Comparing players using awards and accomplishments across eras is pointless, they didn't play together at the same stages of their careers, basically incommensurable contexts to do a trophy count. Especially in the case of Yzerman and who else was around, not just Gretzky and Lemieux, but so many other greats, the star power was just insane.
I would be more than happy with Yzerman against just about anyone he played with throughout his career. Sure, there's Gretzky and Lemieux, and likely Lindros despite his short career, and I guess you would add McDavid now too (but then I also think of how Stevie would also thrive in this type of game with these sticks and skates and it being so soft now to lol).
I'm sure there are fans of other franchise players who would take their guy, and that's cool. These things are always less open and shut than all these rankings seem to portray, look at how forgotten a guy like Pat LaFontaine is and I think he's the best comparable to Yzerman in ability and style that played when he played (even if there are differences there), but Yzerman is Detroit's guy, he was an everything player for us.
Stevie came in at a prolonged period of awfulness for a once great franchise and it took quite a while to get real talent around him. Literally every other Red Wings great that's well remembered in franchise history never really had to go through that that, and we simply don't have that caliber player right now in this period of sucking, we'll see what the future holds.
Then, he went through some real tough times in the prime of his career. In the later part of the eighties, he sort of saw the wheels fall off a previously overachieving team, with so many teammates going through personal issues, and Stevie still carried them as far as he could.
In the early nineties, as the team got better, he took a less prominent role that led to lesser numbers as Bryan Murray wanted balance with two other legit first line centers in Fedorov and Carson and to bring back the defensive rigor that Demers had started off with. When Carson was traded in 1993, not much surprise, Stevie scored like the 150 point guy he was before.
The basic stats are amazing as they are, but then look at all the underlying stats:
Stevie looks even better with even strength goals and points. Then consider that the Wings didn't get as many powerplays initially in the late eighties compared to the league and his powerplay points are lower due to opportunity than many stars. When the powerplay got good in the early nineties, he didn't play most of it and rarely played with Fedorov (even Fedorov's 1993-1994 season is suppressed statwise due to sharing powerplay opportunities and not really playing with Yzerman).
Stevie's road even strength stats are staggeringly good (reasons why a player would have good road splits are generally for flattering reasons - not running up the score in wins at home, not as reliant on easy matchups, not as affected by hard matchups, more defensive role at home, or even just home arena effects).
Score effects stats are flattering too - compared to other star players, less percentage points and goals in blowouts.
Points together stats - only really Islanders LaFontaine and early Mario Lemieux have comparable lack of talent on points together.
When Scotty Bowman came around, he barely got to see Yzerman at his best, as he was injured early in 1993-1994. When he came back, even though the stats were still good, he wasn't fully healed and wasn't the same player. That's what he was judged as, and not the best version of Stevie, and Scotty went after him hard. For a guy who had given the best years of his career to a team that wasn't good, Stevie was treated really poorly and thought as expendable as they started getting good. He didn't demand a trade, and he publicly stated he didn't want to be traded despite the treatment. Stevie continued to sacrifice even more personal stats and was the first to buy into Scotty's system, and sell it to his teammates. He straight up forced Scotty to give him respect with his play.
The numbers may not be super high in the late nineties, but judging by that honestly isn't worth bothering with for me. Just like Fedorov, it's quite obvious Yzerman coulda scored more if not for the team context. This is seen by his production when given the linemates and role (so like early in 1996-1997 playing with Shanahan, Yzerman was scoring at a 100 point pace, but he ended the year with Sandstrom and McCarty).
Even Stevie's last years after his knee osteotomy show what kind of player he was. Even after not playing the lockout year, and initially having a tough time in the faster league, by the end of the year he was once again one of the best players on the team, he had a pretty long point streak.
You look at what everyone who played with Stevie says about him, it's always glowingly positive. Even guys who had otherwise bad experiences in Detroit like Bernie Federko earlier or Curtis Joseph later have nothing but respect for Stevie in their books.
We've had a ton of great players come through Detroit in the recent past, and have legends like Fedorov and Lidstrom, and then Zetterberg and Datsyuk, but if I had to choose the best Red Wing of my lifetime, it's so obviously Stevie.
theathletic.com
