June 15, 1998

WASHINGTON -- Flash back 15 years, back into the realm of what-might-have-been. A wispy, physically unassuming 18-year-old centerman from suburban Ottawa expects to be drafted fourth overall by Detroit, a possibility he finds quite pleasant.

But upon further reflection he wishes there is a way fate could somehow sweep him to the third pick and to the team he adored his entire life.

"I grew up loving the New York Islanders ever since they first joined the league," Steve Yzerman says. "And now that I think about it, yeah, it would have been pretty exciting to go to your favorite team as a child.

"Bryan Trottier was my hero growing up. That's who I patterned myself after. He's the reason why I wear No. 19."

Yzerman's 15-year career with the Red Wings frequently has been marked by redemption, resurrection from physical frailties, and the perception of competitive shortcomings. He says he has gotten three chances to come back from serious injury and equally serious trade discussions to ultimately succeed.

Actually, it was four chances.

Moments before the 1983 draft, new owner Mike Ilitch nearly pulled the trigger on a deal that would have flipped picks with the Islanders. Ilitch, looking to once again stir local passions for his dormant franchise, wanted to take Waterford native Pat LaFontaine third overall, leaving Yzerman for the Islanders.

Ilitch was prepared to pay $1 million. But general manager Jim Devellano convinced him that the better long-term investment was entrusting the struggling franchise's future to Yzerman.

"Well, if I did wind up with the Islanders," he said Sunday, cracking that still-boyish grin, "I wouldn't have been able to wear No. 19."

Yzerman and Trottier are joined by identical jersey numbers, but also by a similarly relentless determination, an uncompromising will that ably compensated for the lack of speed, physical presence or explosive shot that set apart the other, more prominently profiled centers of the recent era.

Should the Wings eliminate Washington in Game 4 Tuesday night, Yzerman and his idol will be paired once again in history.

Yzerman would become the first captain since Trottier to lead his team to consecutive Stanley Cup championship sweeps. The Islanders bounced Vancouver in 1982 and Edmonton in 1983 in four straight.

"I had never really thought about that connection until you just mentioned it," he said. "But I'm not consumed with winning in a sweep. I just want to get that fourth win, whenever it comes. Even if we did win in four straight, I'm not so sure that I'd measure up to direct comparisons with (Trottier)."

The quality that may best distinguish the two is their consistency.

Trottier has the records for longest consecutive point-scoring streak for one playoff year -- 18 games (29 points) in 1981 -- and for more than one playoff year -- 27 games (42 points), from the last seven in 1980 through the first two in 1982.

While Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan have floated in and out of the offensive flow throughout the playoffs, Yzerman has remained the lone constant among the Big Three, quietly efficient but lethally effective. His 24 playoff points tied Fedorov's team record. His first-period assist on Tomas Holmstrom's goal in Game 3 extended his Stanley Cup finals points streak to seven games.

The only thing more inevitable than the Wings' second straight sip from the Cup is that Yzerman will take home the Conn Symthe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player.

He also will take home the satisfaction of proving wrong all prior doubters. Yzerman is indeed the pre-eminent team leader in the NHL today, the new Mark Messier.

"It's amazing what a complete turnaround Stevie's had in the public's eye the last few years," forward Martin Lapointe said. "It's funny because he hasn't done anything different since I've been here. He's always been an inspiration in his own way, a leader by example. He's not a rah-rah kind of guy who'll give you that big, emotional pep talk."

Yzerman remained silent in the Wings' locker room moments before Saturday's 2-1 victory, which fell on the exact day 12 months earlier when Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Mnatsakanov were seriously injured in a limousine accident.

Yzerman deferred to Scotty Bowman who, in a rare emotional display, told his players how he would give up all of his Stanley Cup rings if Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov were able to stand in the locker room with them this evening.

What more could Yzerman add?

"A lot is made of leadership," he said, "but a leader can only be as strong as the players and coaches around him. Less is more a lot of times. You get too much credit when you've won and too much blame when you've lost."

No formula for developing a championship atmosphere is complete without sacrifice. And unless the superstar unflaggingly adopts this philosophy, it's impossible for it to permeate throughout the remainder of the locker room. Yzerman's season goal-scoring averages have decreased by more than half in the five years that Bowman has coached the Red Wings.

That's the ultimate barometer in measuring how badly somebody wants to win.

"How many other team captains sacrifice his body the way he does?" Lapointe said.

The Capitals' Dale Hunter rode him like a bronco in Game 1 and Yzerman so agitated the Capitals' Esa Tikkanen in Game 3 that Tikkanen whacked him in his head, sending Yzerman crashing to the ice at the end of the second period.

"You have to lead through deeds more so than words," Yzerman said.

He's unconcerned as to how history will judge him, and equally unmoved by the current praise heaped upon him. He doesn't want any coronation as the next Messier or Trottier.

After 15 years of relative obscurity, he's discovering that just being Steve Yzerman is credit enough.