42 Facts About Yzerman

Stephen Gregory 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.

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

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

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

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In 2002, 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.

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

Yzerman was appointed executive director of Team Canada on October 7,2008, for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Yzerman was again appointed executive director of Team Canada on March 5,2012, for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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

Red Wings were prepared to send 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 Yzerman's rookie training camp.

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

That season, 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, Yzerman suffered a knee injury which caused him to miss the rest of the regular season.

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, Yzerman initially chafed under Bowman's stern coaching style.

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

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

In 1995, 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.

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, 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.

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.

On November 26,1999, Yzerman became the 11th player in NHL history to score 600 goals.

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

On May 1,2004, Yzerman was hit in the eye by a deflected slapshot by the Calgary Flames defenceman Rhett Warrener in a playoff game, breaking his orbital bone and scratching his cornea.

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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 Yzerman's enforced absence, both refused the number out of respect for their injured countryman.

Yzerman played his last professional hockey game on May 1,2006, a loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the first round of the 2006 playoffs and knocking Detroit out of the playoffs.

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.

On January 2,2007, Yzerman was presented the key to the city of Detroit by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at a luncheon prior to the jersey retirement ceremony.

Yzerman received another honour when he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame on February 11,2008.

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.

On June 24,2015, Yzerman won the NHL General Manager of the Year Award; he was the first Lightning general manager to receive the honor.

On September 11,2018, with one year remaining on his contract, Yzerman announced that he would not be resigning as the Lightning general manager, but would remain with the team as a senior advisor.

On October 18,2008, Yzerman was named executive director for the Canadian men's hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not far from where Yzerman grew up, the Nepean Sportsplex named one of its indoor ice surfaces the Steve Yzerman Arena in 1997 in his honour.