31 Facts About Steve Yzerman

Stephen Gregory Steve Yzerman is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player currently serving as executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he spent all 22 seasons of his NHL playing career.

Steve Yzerman led the Wings to five first-place regular season finishes and three Stanley Cup championships .

Steve Yzerman played in ten All-Star Games, and was a first team All-Star in 2000 and a member of the All-Rookie Team in 1984.

In 2017, Steve Yzerman was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.

Steve Yzerman has represented his country in several international tournaments as a member of Canada's national hockey team .

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In 2002, Steve Yzerman won an Olympic gold medal, making him one of few players to win an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same year.

Steve Yzerman was the general manager of Team Canada for the 2007 IIHF World Championship, which they won.

Steve Yzerman attended Bell High School and played for his hometown Nepean Raiders Junior A hockey team.

Red Wings were prepared to send Steve Yzerman back to Peterborough for one more year, but "after one season, you knew he was a tremendous hockey player", said Ken Holland, the former Red Wings general manager who was then a minor league goaltender for the Wings during Steve Yzerman's rookie training camp.

Steve Yzerman tallied 39 goals and 87 points in his rookie season and finished second in Calder Memorial Trophy voting.

That season, Steve Yzerman became the first 18-year-old and youngest player to play in an NHL All-Star Game since the current format was adopted in 1969.

However, during the same game, Steve Yzerman suffered a knee injury which caused him to miss the rest of the regular season.

Steve Yzerman won the Lester B Pearson Award, the MVP as voted by the National Hockey League Players' Association, and was a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the MVP as voted by the NHL writers.

When Scotty Bowman took over as head coach in 1993, Steve Yzerman initially chafed under Bowman's stern coaching style.

Bowman, for his part, felt that Steve Yzerman was not concentrating enough on defence; Bowman had long expected his forwards to be good back-checkers as well.

However, Steve Yzerman gradually became a better defender and was considered one of the best two-way forwards in the history of the game.

In 1995, Steve Yzerman led Detroit to its first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1966, but the Red Wings were swept by the New Jersey Devils.

Steve Yzerman scored perhaps the most memorable goal of his career in the 1996 playoffs, stealing the puck from Wayne Gretzky and beating St Louis Blues goaltender Jon Casey with a slap shot from the blue line to win the Western Conference Semifinals in double overtime of Game 7.

In 1997, Steve Yzerman put to rest all doubts of his ability to lead a team to a championship as Detroit won its first Stanley Cup in 42 years after sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers.

Steve Yzerman handed the Cup first to the wheelchair-bound Vladimir Konstantinov, who had been severely injured in a car accident just six days after the Cup victory in 1997.

Rather than raising the Stanley Cup first, Steve Yzerman passed the Cup to head coach Scotty Bowman, who announced his retirement following the game.

Steve Yzerman underwent eye surgery following the incident, and was sidelined for the remainder of the 2004 playoffs.

Joe Thornton and Joe Sakic, who each wore the number 19 for their respective NHL clubs and who were now eligible to wear it for team Canada due to Steve Yzerman's enforced absence, both refused the number out of respect for their injured countryman.

Steve Yzerman is fourth in games played for the franchise, behind Howe, Delvecchio, and Nicklas Lidstrom, who was his teammate for the final 12 seasons of his career.

Steve Yzerman had expressed his desire to run a team while with the Red Wings front office since the latter part of his playing career, and had gained experience in running a team through his work with Hockey Canada, having assembled several rosters between 2007 and 2010 for Hockey Canada.

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Steve Yzerman said he would consider coming back as head of the Canadian team in 2014.

In 2012, Steve Yzerman was named executive director for the Canadian men's hockey team at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Steve Yzerman was considered a leading candidate for the captaincy of Team Canada in 1998, along with Wayne Gretzky and Ray Bourque.

Steve Yzerman had led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup during the previous season and was one of the longest-serving team captains.

Steve Yzerman resided in Hillsborough County, Florida during his tenure with the Lightning.

Steve Yzerman has acquired naturalized United States' citizenship as a result of his many years of residence in Michigan.