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Steve Yzerman

Yzerman and Howe are the greatest Red Wings ever. I think its a toss up between the two but I might give the edge to Howe as his overall impact on the game may be 2nd to only Gretz (maybe Mario).

Careers I'd rank Yzerman third behind Howe and Lids. If his knee doesn't get blown out maybe this is different, but Howe is probably a top 5 player and Lids a top 5 dman overall. With that said I think a lot of the Yzerman lore and his role as the greatest or 2nd greatest Red Wings comes from how he played in the 2nd half of his career.

Most skilled brings a guy like Feds into the debate. To be a truly Selke worthy player (not just be the best two way player) and put up 120 points is incredibly special. He was also such a consistent playoff guy with 20+ points in four straight playoffs in the dead puck era. It is really hard to compare skill from different eras though, and Yzerman's skilled days were largely in the 80s. Feds probably had the most dominant peak as a Red Wing.

Dats and Z were great both neither are in the top 5 best Wings debate as far I'm concerned in any of the above mentioned areas (career, skill, or "Red Wing")
 
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He was great captain, just like Larkin is now and one of the best GMs. He also was very good at playing hockey, one of the best all time, what else can you say
 
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lilidk said:
He was great captain, just like Larkin is now and one of the best GMs. He also was very good at playing hockey, one of the best all time, what else can you say
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It's very rare group when you are one of the greatest players, to become a great Manager or coach. All the all-time players mostly stayed as their player legacy only.

Think it's very small group. Joe Sakic did well in his short time with Avs. Won Cup as GM.

Larry Robinson won 6 Cups as a player and 4 Cups at different coaching roles. Only 1 as Head coach.

And then there's Yzerman. He is not done yet, and when he is done, he will be the G.O.A.T. when look through all that damn 50 years involved at hockey.

All the other great managers or coaches, were mediocre as players.
 
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I'm probably bias because I got to grow up watchin Yzerman but he has to be one of the most rounded hockey careers of all time. Winning cups at both the player and GM level, international championships and international team building. And also one of the most humble classiest guys t to do it The guy just wins and exudes excellence at all levels every level. He isn't the top in any one aspect of hockey but I think he has to have one of the widest footprints of success when factoring in all of the aspects of hockey together.
 
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Henkka said:
It's very rare group when you are one of the greatest players, to become a great Manager or coach. All the all-time players mostly stayed as their player legacy only.

Think it's very small group. Joe Sakic did well in his short time with Avs. Won Cup as GM.

Larry Robinson won 6 Cups as a player and 4 Cups at different coaching roles. Only 1 as Head coach.
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Not the greatest player of all time but hockey hall of famer nevertheless Jacques Lemaire, 8 cups as player, 2 cups as assistant GM and 1 cup as head coach.
 
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Yzerman has the Triple Gold Club as a player and a Triple Gold Club as a Manager. Any other players we know that did that?

Never mind: he never won the World Championships as a player, only got a Silver.
 
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Steve Yzerman was not only the best captain the Detroit Red Wings have ever had but also the best captain the NHL has ever had.

Watching his career from the playoff disappointments of the 80s and early 90s through to the milestones and glory achieved in the second half of his career is the greatest sports journey I will ever witness and is about as close to a real life "Hero's Journey" you will ever see in sports.
 
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In the modern era, he's the number 1 Red Wing.
All time....
1. Howe
2. Yzerman
3. Lidstrom

In the 80s and early 90s, he was an absolute powerhouse of offense. Only Wayne and Mario scored more pts than Stevie in a single season.
Once Scotty Bowman entered the picture, Stevie became a great two-way player and even won the Selke in 99-00. He won two of his three cups practically without ACLs. They call him The Captain for a reason.
 
I think Sergei Fedorov was better than Steve Yzerman, but "The Captain" spent his entire career in Detroit contrary to the russian, so in terms of what he means to the Red Wings franchise i think the nº1 place is between him and Gordie Howe. To me the greatest leader in the history of the NHL, just pure class in the ice and off the ice. He was a amazing offensive player with great skill, no wonder they called him "Stevie Wonder", but also humble enough to change his style so he could win the Cup, he became a tremendous defensive player when Scotty Bowman arrived, "Stevie Y" (and also Fedorov) was a better all around player than Lemieux and Gretzky. Steve Yzerman was a special player and is a special person.
 
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Steve Yzerlland said:
Datsyuk was not better than Yzerman.....
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Agreed. Not sure how somebody could reach the conclusion that Datsyuk was better. Sometimes more electric, perhaps. But the overall stats aren't even close, not to mention the added leadership.

Datsyuk / Yzerman:

GP
953 / 1514

G
314 / 692

A
604 /1063

PTS
918 / 1755

+/-
249 / 184

Cups (as a player)
2 / 3
 
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jkutswings said:
Agreed. Not sure how somebody could reach the conclusion that Datsyuk was better. Sometimes more electric, perhaps. But the overall stats aren't even close, not to mention the added leadership.

Datsyuk / Yzerman:

GP
953 / 1514

G
314 / 692

A
604 /1063

PTS
918 / 1755

+/-
249 / 184

Cups (as a player)
2 / 3
Click to expand...
Datsyuk was the best player of the early advanced stats era, and he’s probably somewhere in the top 5-10. The top 3 are pretty easy: Gordie, Nick and then Stevie IMO. From there it really depends on the player and the era. Old school people would put Terry Sawchuk for sure at 4, others may disagree.

Hockey reference has Datsyuk at 7, behind Sawchuk, Alex Delvecchio and Red Kelly, which seems totally reasonable. However they have Jimmy Howard at 11th which is cringe.
 
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jkutswings said:
Agreed. Not sure how somebody could reach the conclusion that Datsyuk was better. Sometimes more electric, perhaps. But the overall stats aren't even close, not to mention the added leadership.

Datsyuk / Yzerman:

GP
953 / 1514

G
314 / 692

A
604 /1063

PTS
918 / 1755

+/-
249 / 184

Cups (as a player)
2 / 3
Click to expand...
I believe Datsyuk was overager when Holland drafted him . He started in 23 with great support, great linemates. Yzerman never had it. Datsyuk left organization realizing where everything is moving. He was not a leader , Yzerman was, but Datsyuk is all time most fun hockey player . To me Compere both of them just not have much sense
 
jkutswings said:
Agreed. Not sure how somebody could reach the conclusion that Datsyuk was better. Sometimes more electric, perhaps. But the overall stats aren't even close, not to mention the added leadership.

Datsyuk / Yzerman:

GP
953 / 1514

G
314 / 692

A
604 /1063

PTS
918 / 1755

+/-
249 / 184

Cups (as a player)
2 / 3
Click to expand...

Plus Yzerman's Smythe and Pearson awards. It's really not close.

Datsyuk was easily one most of the exciting players I've ever seen but I think the flashiness of what he did sometimes leads people to overrate his actual production and accomplishments.
 
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jkutswings said:
Agreed. Not sure how somebody could reach the conclusion that Datsyuk was better. Sometimes more electric, perhaps. But the overall stats aren't even close, not to mention the added leadership.

Datsyuk / Yzerman:

GP
953 / 1514

G
314 / 692

A
604 /1063

PTS
918 / 1755

+/-
249 / 184

Cups (as a player)
2 / 3
Click to expand...
Yzerman was a better player in terms of production and leadership abilities.
Its hard to compare cause the 80's era was such terrible defensive era where scoring was way up.

90's defence era and Yzerman changing his game makes this more comparable in a sense.

Datsuyk was best player in the league for a year or two, and a lot of fun to watch, whether it was Datsyukian dekes or Datsyukian decks.
 
I like that one time I think they did a poll of NHL players who they would draft first out off all current players and I think Datsyuk was the one most players selected. I think that is a fun way to look at it. If you had all career knowledge of each player and asked all NHL GM's who out of all RedWings players in history would you draft first overall if they all entered the draft at the same time. I think a majority of GM's would take Yzerman. You would probably get a lot of Howe Lidstrom Fedorov etc... but I think overall GM's would go for that elite player mixed with the charisma and leadership. There are few players on the list like Yzerman Lidstrom and maybe Howe who almost "guarantee" winning a cup at some point by drafting them because of the way their presence impacts the whole team, and not just their ability to dominate individually. Not sure if that makes sense and maybe its a swiss cheese argument it's just the way I feel. That is why I like Yzerman so much as a GM is I think he has that intuition of how to find this quality in players.
 
DoMakc said:
I think Zetterberg was a better player than Datsyuk.
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As much as I like Zetterberg, he was definitively not. Though, he wasn't so far off.
What he was good at though, was being put on specific one on one defensive assignments.
Why? Because he was good at it and Datsyuk was better and more creative offensively.
 
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