August 3, 2005

BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

When the gangly 18-year-old scored a goal in his NHL debut for the Red Wings on Oct. 5, 1983, it didn't surprise Jimmy Devellano.

Devellano already knew the player, Stephen Gregory Yzerman, was something special.

Devellano was in his second year as general manager of the Wings. A few months earlier, he had been in charge of his first NHL draft and was responsible for deciding whom the Wings would select with their first-round pick. The NHL Central Scouting Bureau had ranked Yzerman as the third-best prospect, behind Brian Lawton and Pat LaFontaine.

But when Lawton and Sylvain Turgeon were selected first and second, the New York Islanders used the No. 3 pick on LaFontaine, leaving Yzerman available to the next team.

That team was Detroit, and the rest is a history so long and loyal that it has become local lore.

Yzerman announced Tuesday that he would return for a 22nd year with the only NHL team he has played for, signing a 1-year deal worth between $1.5 million and $2 million. In doing so, he continues to extend at least one dream he and Devellano shared immediately after Yzerman was drafted.

"At the time, we joked about how I'd have a 17-year career, play till I was 35, and our other goal was to win five Stanley Cups," Yzerman said Tuesday. "So I've exceeded one and haven't reached the one yet."

Yzerman, who turned 40 in May, would have to play at least two more years to reach five Cups. In all likelihood this will be his last season, but he is leaving the future open.

"Rather than say absolutely, let's see how the season goes, and I'll determine it at the end of the year," Yzerman said.

For now, training camp opens in September and offers the first opportunity for Yzerman to be back on the ice in a Wings uniform since May 1, 2004, when he left the ice bloodied after being struck in the face in Game 5 of the second-round playoff series against Calgary.

A superstar right from the start
On Oct. 5 -- at home against St. Louis -- the Wings open the 2005-06 season precisely 22 years to the day after Yzerman beat Winnipeg goaltender Doug Soetaert for his first NHL goal, beginning a career that would earn accolades from the start.

That season, Yzerman went on to lead all NHL rookies with 87 points and 48 assists, and he became the youngest player in NHL history selected to the All-Star Game when he played for the Campbell Conference on Jan. 31, 1984, at 18 years, 8 months, 22 days.

Over the next two decades, Yzerman appeared in a further eight All-Star Games and won three Stanley Cups and an Olympic Gold Medal with Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

His accomplishments have secured his status among hockey's greats, but to Devellano, it was clear long before the championships came that Yzerman was exceptional.

"You may find this hard to believe, but I knew almost his very first year," Devellano said. "It might sound silly, but, truthfully, he was the first pick ever for me. And he came in as an 18-year-old, and we had a very poor team. He scored 39 goals and just narrowly missed being rookie of the year to Tom Barrasso.

"I knew he was the real deal, that he was going to be a really good player. He was a pretty special guy from his very first game."

He was a special guy on a below-average team, though. Yzerman's first year, the Wings won 31 games; his second year, 27; his third, 17. A 41-victory season in 1987-88 hinted of a resurgence, but two years later, Detroit won just 28 games. In his first eight years, Yzerman enjoyed just one winning season. But if he wanted out, he never let on to his bosses.

"I can't really say I ever sensed that," Devellano said. "Steve is a pretty strong-willed guy. I think he appreciated the fact he was drafted fourth overall, that we were bringing him in and trying to build around him. There were a lot of bumpy roads, and many times it was very discouraging and there was some negativity surrounding the team. But he never came to ownership or me to ask out, to his credit.

"He grew with the team, with all the ups and downs we all suffered through. Even into the '90s, we had a lot of playoff disappointments before we eventually won some Cups. We were bounced in the first round -- we had a lot of that. Then there was a lot of criticism, on talk shows, that maybe they can't win with Yzerman. But eventually we did. He stuck with us and we stuck with him, and that goes to show that sometimes in sports you really do need to stick together."

However, Yzerman's tenure with the Wings teetered on at least two occasions: One was in the early '90s, when general manager Bryan Murray flirted with trading Yzerman to Buffalo for LaFontaine, and another came during the regime of Scotty Bowman when rumors persisted Bowman wanted to ship Yzerman to Ottawa.

As Yzerman racked up season after season, other issues besides the success of the team arose.

On March 1, 1988, shortly after he'd scored his 50th goal of the season, Yzerman crashed into the goalpost during the second period of a game against Buffalo, tearing ligaments in his right knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery March 3 and did not return to play until two days before his 23rd birthday, on May 7, 1988. The incident marked the start of injuries related to that knee that plague Yzerman to this day.

The heart of a champion
On Jan. 26, 2002, Yzerman suffered another injury to his right knee and underwent surgery Jan. 27. He returned Feb. 11, just in time to play two games for the Wings before heading off to the Salt Lake Games. He aggravated the injury at the Olympics and did not play again for Detroit until April 10.

On Aug. 2 that year, Yzerman underwent radical surgery on his right knee and was sidelined the first 66 games of the 2002-2003 season. When he returned on Feb. 24, fans at Joe Louis Arena greeted him with a standing ovation.

A comeback never had been a certainty. Yzerman's right knee, by then, had been through so many procedures that surgeons had to realign bones to patch it together. By that time Yzerman's problems with his knee were so legendary that, to some, his ability to continue playing was even more impressive than how much he'd won in his career.

Joe Dumars, who joined the Pistons two years after Yzerman came to the Wings, was amazed when he heard some of the medical drama surrounding Yzerman.

"The most impressive story I've heard about him is when it was explained to me how bad his knee was, and he continued to play on it," Dumars said. "The people I spoke to said there was no way possible he should have been playing, and there he was, getting it done on the ice."

It was that willpower, along with his dazzling offensive skills, that convinced Devellano of Yzerman's greatness all the way back in 1983. Now, two decades later, Devellano can put Yzerman's impact on the Wings in perspective only by calling upon Gordie Howe, who played for the Wings from 1946-47 to 1970-71, a span of 25 years that yielded four Stanley Cups.

"Gordie Howe is probably considered the greatest Red Wing of all time," Devellano said. "He played a quarter of a century with the team. He is right up there even today as one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time. I think the best is to describe it is as 1 and 1a. Gordie, 1, because he was first. And Steve is 1a. They're neck and neck. That's the way it should be. Gordie is the old-time all-time Red Wings favorite; Steve is the modern all-time favorite.

"One thing is clear: There's nobody else. There's no other player who enters their domain. This franchise has been very, very fortunate -- take Howe's 25 years, and Yzerman -- if we presume this to be his last year -- his 22 years, that's 47 years the franchise has had a terrific, terrific player."

Contact HELENE ST. JAMES at 313-222-2295 or stjames@freepress.com.