Steve Yzerman

News Conference from Feb. 7, 2002

In his 19th NHL season, 16th as Red Wings captain, making him the longest serving captain in league history, Steve Yzerman has led the Red Wings to first place in the overall NHL standings with a record of 38-10-6-2 for 84 points. In 49 games played, Yzerman has tallied 13 goals and 33 assists for 46 points, including a team leading five game winning goals.

Next week, Yzerman will head to Salt Lake City to compete in his second Olympic Games. In Nagano in 1998 he tallied one goal and one assist for two points in six games.

Q: Right now you are fourth among active players in goals scored, third in assists and third in total points. What would it mean to you in your career if you were to be able to play as the leader in any one of those categories?

Yzerman: Honestly, not a whole lot really. It's not something that I've, you know, thought about, something I definitely wasn't aware of till you bring it up. It's just not important to me right now.

Q: How is the knee feeling? You went to practice today. When can we see you back in action?

Yzerman: Today was the first time I've been on ice since I played in St. Louis, week and a half ago, two weeks ago. I just skated lightly about 20 minutes before the team started practice and shot some pucks.

I felt fine. The doctor didn't want me skating or practicing till tomorrow so I went out a day early just to cruise around a little bit and see how I felt. It was fine.

Q: Can we see you possibly for the weekend?

Yzerman: We play Friday at home, Saturday in Ottawa, Monday in Montreal. I plan on skating each day through the weekend with the goal of playing Monday night in Montreal.

Q: How long have you been using the Eastern Synergy? What do you notice the perform benefits are?

Yzerman: I started using it when it first came out. I know the first game I used it in was LA. It was about midway through or a third of the way through not last season, the season before. I used it all of last year. I think I started with it the year before last.

I just found particularly with the slapshot mostly, that's where the most benefit comes in. I just found the puck jumps off it when you shoot the puck. I noticed it immediately. That was the biggest difference.

I've played -- kind of toyed with the different stiffnesses of it, to find kind of what works best. I find a stiffer stick works better, you get more on your slapshot, but not as much on your wrist shot. I played back and forth with that. Mostly the consistency of it as far as, you know, the shape of the blade, the shaft, the stiffness of the shaft from one stick to the next is pretty much the same.

The biggest thing is the puck jumps off it, particularly with your slapshot.

Q: Some guys have complained about not having the feel of wood. Do you have any problems with that when receiving passes?

Yzerman: Not so much receiving a pass, but it is a little different handling the puck a little bit. But before using it, I used a two-piece stick with a graphite shaft, which is basically the same shaft that's in this Synergy stick, and a graphite blade, same blade. Now they figured out a way to bond them together at the factory so you don't have to do it at the arena. That's all it really is.

I was pretty much used to the stick. The big change is going from the wooden blade to the graphite blade. That was the big change. I just switched right away and didn't think about it. A little bit different but in general I think the pluses of it outweigh the minuses, just the only thing is a little bit of feel. But I think you get used to it right away, or pretty quickly.

Q: Yourself and Joe Sakic and Paul Kariya, how much say do you have in developing new products?

Yzerman: I don't know that we have a lot of say in what they're coming out with at Eastern. They tried different things, you know, skates is a good example. Even before the Synergy came out, I tried it in the summertime before it came out, told them -- we had our input as to what we thought about it, the skates as well, what we think of it, what we like about it, what we don't like about it. They'll kind of take that and in some cases use a little bit of it, the input, I don't want to say advice, but our feedback I guess on it, use it a bit.

The Synergy, they asked us what we thought. I'm not sure what's other guys thought. I thought it was something I'd be able to use. In trying it, I felt it was a little stiff when they first made it. Everybody is a little bit different, so they made mine a little bit whippier.

So, yeah, we get an opportunity a little bit to try some of the products, but not a lot of say in development. They'll come out with something and we'll tell them what we think of it. Basically they'll adjust it or stick with what they want for their own reasons.

Q: When you come out to Salt Lake City, are your plans to stay in the village? Did you enjoy the village in Nagano?

Yzerman: Yeah, we're staying in the village, definitely. I think all the guys enjoyed staying there just for the fact you really are there with all the athletes from all the countries. You're playing your events, everybody is kind of coming and going, doing their own thing.

We didn't really have a lot of time to watch events other than live I guess or in person, so we watched them on TV mostly. That was the one real opportunity you got to interact with some of the athletes, not just for us, but athletes from around the world.

I thought it was a great experience, enjoyed it. Look forward to staying in the village once again.

Q: The Olympic competition, seems like there's two schools of thought. Some of the guys say with the red line absence, 15 extra feet, it's a completely different game. Some guys say it's still the same scoring area, so much talent, doesn't seem that much different. Where do you stand on that issue?

Yzerman: Well, the bigger ice surface changes the game, for sure. If anything, it slows it down a little bit, becomes a little bit more like a soccer game. It's more puck control style, European hockey is more puck control, less straight ahead, all out. So the game is slowed down on the bigger ice surface.

I'm assuming the red line has got to change things a lot. I haven't played -- I don't know if I've ever played a game without a red line, maybe as a kid in a tournament I think in the States a long time ago they used to play without the red line. I haven't played, God, it's been maybe 25 years since I played a game without the red line. I've got to figure that that throws a new element into it. You have to wait -- guys that hang around the red line in the NHL now, now they're going to be hanging around the far blueline.

It's definitely going to change things, particularly I would assume you have pressure on in the offensive zone. You're going to have wingers just waiting for that puck to be turned over and taking off behind your D. Makes it more difficult for your D to hang in there and keep the puck in.

I know the wider ice surface definitely changes the game. I'm assuming that no red line is going to have a big impact as well.

Q: If you play the Czech Republic, the guys are going to ask you spiritual guidance in dealing with Dom. What are you going to tell them?

Yzerman: I'm going to have to wait and see how the game goes. I'll delve out the information as needed.

Q: Seems that in Canada there's this huge debate over the goaltending. It seems a lot of people, the fans, media, are concerned that that might be a trouble spot for Canada's team. Are the players talking about that as much? Is it as much of a concern for you guys?

Yzerman: It's not a concern. I mean, guys talk about it. We don't sit here and talk about the Olympics all day every day. When we get talking about things, who is going to play with who, who is going to start in goal.

Really I have no idea which of the three guys is going to start. Regardless of any of the three to play, there's no way you can say that it's a weakness or this guy is better than that guy. No, so it's not a concern at all, not at all. There's no way any of the three guys is a wrong choice, in my opinion. Whichever one they feel most comfortable with. No, it's not an issue at all.

Q: The knee, in terms of why you opted for the minor surgery, to rest now, obviously you must be a hundred percent sure you're going to be okay to be back in time to play in Salt Lake City.

Yzerman: It wasn't like an option of -- I guess I could have postponed having my knee scoped until later. Really the only other time would be until the Olympic break, I would scope then.

What it came down to is my knee was starting to bother me worse. More and more I had x-rays, I had an MRI. They weren't real -- didn't really show anything. I knew there was something in there that wasn't right just from past experience with having some different surgeries, problems with cartilage, whatnot, in the past. I knew there was something wrong. We played in Phoenix maybe a week and a half ago. Played Phoenix at home, I should say. I knew something was in there. It was bothering me, it was hurting.

I played the next night in St. Louis on a Saturday night. The doctors couldn't schedule anything until Monday, that Monday. I had it right away as opposed to waiting. My knee was bothering me, I felt my play was suffering. Let's just get it done now. Depending on what's wrong, I may or may not be back for the Olympics.

But it wasn't so much a time -- an option of doing it now or doing it later. There's something wrong, I want to get it fixed and go on. I knew there was something wrong, had to get something done about it. What I had basically done is they went in, scoped it, took out some cartilage. I had a small tear in the lateral meniscus, had that removed. Took out some cartilage that sits on the bone, just was hanging off, they cleaned that off.

I'm expecting to be ready to go -- I won't play in Ottawa. I'm expecting to play Monday in Montreal, Wednesday in Minnesota, be ready for the Olympics.

Q: When you look at the makeup of this team, what do you think, how does it differ from '98?

Yzerman: Well, I think -- the Nagano team, before going over there, when we met with the coaches or talked with them, they had kind of not a pie chart, but a format on paper that we want this type of line, an offensive line, two offensive lines, these particular guys are going to be used more as a defensive line, we're going to use these guys in a penalty killing situation. They tried to get players that were accustomed to that type of role, guys that might play on a checking line in the regular season, with their own team in the league, and throw them into that spot as opposed to assembling more of an All-Star team.

I think this year they've gone, I guess, in my opinion, more on talent, more on the top players on their teams, less of a role-type player, and they are going to put that player into the situation as opposed to bringing in a guy who is more of a role player, a guy who is accustom to playing that role, you know what I mean? Try to bring in a higher-skilled guy, put him in there, he's just going to kill penalties.

So I guess they'll use more of the All-Star format, I would say, as opposed to really using a format of we need this many guys to play an offensive role, this many guys to play a defensive role, this line is strictly -- not strictly, but for the most part can be a reliable offensive line and kill penalties and not see any power player time. It seems a little less structured this year.

Q: Obviously, the competition in Salt Lake City is going to be all about the medals. Is there a rivalry between Canada and the United States, North American bragging rights?

Yzerman: Yeah, definitely. You look at the rivalries, Czech-Russia, Sweden-Finland is a rivalry, and Canada-US is a rivalry. I think in North America, obviously NHL-wise I think everyone is hoping for TV, NBC is hoping for a Canada-US final. But there definitely is. Canada for a long time was the dominant country in hockey, at least between the two. The US has very quickly in the last ten years made huge strides as to come pretty much equal to Canada. Rivalry has gotten better. Now that the US is stronger, it's made it more important that Canada do well.

Q: A little back and forth among the guys in the locker room?

Yzerman: A little bit, yeah. More so lately, I guess. We started to talk about it, have some fun with it, yeah. I'm not necessarily looking forward to playing against my teammates, but I'm looking forward to the games and the outcomes of them.

Q: You were in Nagano. You came home without a medal. Everything we've heard so far right up until Saturday in Los Angeles, Wayne Gretzky said, "We're hoping for nothing but a gold medal." I was wondering, at your age, is that accurate? Would you have the conception that any Olympic medal is better than no medal at all?

Yzerman: Having Olympic medal would be great. It's a keepsake. Definitely it would be something nice to have.

But we've played in team sports, a lot of individual sports, it's all about -- it's about there's a winner and everybody else. There isn't necessarily an award for second place or award for third place. We've always been brought up that there's a champion and then there's everybody else. It's not about placing or putting in a good showing, although in Nagano I think we put in a great showing. We played well. Our team did a lot of good things, represented the country well, the Canadian Olympic team real well, but it was a disappointment because we didn't win the gold medal.

Yeah, it would be nice to get a medal, but the only one we want is gold. Finishing first is what it's about. That's the way we've played ever since we started. It's about winning a championship. You're successful when you win a championship. Second, third have always been irrelevant.

We won the silver medal in '95 in the Stanley Cup finals. That didn't go very far, you know. It's kind of the same approach here in the Olympics. It's all about winning the gold. There is only one successful team.

Q: Is this the most productive line you played on, this year's team?

Yzerman: Most productive line or most productive team?

Q. It could be both.

Yzerman: We play in all kinds of different lines. I've played with various -- up until I got hurt -- I played on different lines. Our line combinations change back and forth depending on production and depending on winning and losing.

We have pretty good depth on the team, a little more depth. I think the addition of Pavel Datsyuk, the increased role of Boyd Devereaux on that line, playing with Brett, has given us a third line, whether Sergei is playing center on one line, myself on another. It's given us a little more depth offensively, which has provided for a little bit more consistency from game to game.

Is it the deepest team or the best lineup? I don't know. That will be determined at the end of the year, at the end of the playoffs, I think. The two years we won the Stanley Cup, I feel the reason we won it is because we had the most depth, particularly up front we had four lines that contributed pretty well. Three lines offensively that were pretty consistent scorers, and the Draper line that chipped in goals at that time, chipped in key goals. We'll wait and see.

Q: I know Chris Chelios got into something at the end of the game with Theo. Theo has been real emotional this season, maybe more so than he's been in his career. Is that something you're concerned about in terms of the Olympic team?

Yzerman: Not really. You know, Theo, controversial is not the right word, but he's been a figure of -- the center of attention for a lot of different reasons over the course of his career. I don't think that it necessarily affects his play.

You know, I'm not really sure what's going on. I don't really know what's going on off ice with him. He's played pretty well this year, I know that.

I've played with him on a line. It was at the World Cup in '96, I played with him on the Olympic team in '98 and I know him reasonably well. He'll just go out and play. It's a 10-day stretch of six games where you're playing hockey. You don't have a lot of time for other things. No, it's not a concern. I'm assuming he'll be there ready to play. He's played a lot of hockey this year. He's in good shape. No, it isn't.

Q: The All-Star Game last weekend, Wayne Gretzky said he was planning on sending out letters to guys basically saying, "If you're at 70 percent, tell us, we'll send somebody else if you're banged up." Is it your thought that if you can go, you'll go, or are you sort of monitoring yourself, and if you're not above that 70 percent you would say, "Maybe you better send somebody else"?

Yzerman: I haven't heard of that. You're mentioning it is the first I heard of it. I spoke with Wayne about a week ago after I had the knee scoped, gave him an update, told him what I had done, what my schedule looks like as far as the time, what's going to happen over the next couple weeks. I told him I planned on playing in Montreal. If I'm not ready to play or have any setbacks along the way, I'd let him know. My own personal feeling on it, without hearing that or talking with Wayne, is whether it's Monday or Wednesday against Minnesota, if I'm not going to be an effective player, I won't be going. That's pretty much my decision.

I skated lightly for the first time today. Over the next three days it will determine whether I play Monday, which right now I don't foresee that being a problem. If I have problems with my knee, I won't be going. It just doesn't make sense to go over there for a short period of time, in an important situation and not be able to play.

Again, having said that, I fully expect to be fine. Doesn't make sense to be at 70 or on your team, this guy at 70, this guy at 75 is better. I don't know that that's true in this case. There are other guys that are as good or healthy that can go.

Right now my feeling is I will be 100 percent and playing. If I'm not, I'll let them know that I'm not effective, I won't be going.

 

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