Is the old Steve Yzerman back?

The Red Wings' captain thought for a second. He smiled. And then he answered, subtly as always.

"You mean the old Steve Yzerman, or the Steve Yzerman of old?"

Ah, there is a distinction, a fine one, and in the waning days of the regular season, as the playoffs near, Yzerman is blurring lines and stirring recollections. It's a reprisal disguised as a farewell. Or more likely, a farewell disguised as a reprisal.

When the postseason starts in a week, the Wings again will be Stanley Cup favorites and Yzerman again will play a vital role, even as the question again is asked. If the Wings win and he plays well, can he still really retire?

Yzerman won't say. Now is not the time for distractions or sentiment. On that issue, he's adamant.

But the end still likely is near, still likely after this season, regardless of what the Wings do. Yzerman reserves the right to play it out before making a final decision, but watching him and talking to him, one perception strikes hard.

He's excelling not necessarily because he has a lot left to give but because he's giving all he has left.

"Listen, if we go out and win the Cup and I play well, I'd love to come back," Yzerman said. "But there are some physical realities I'm facing, and they're not going away."

He sat in a Joe Louis Arena lounge Friday morning after working out, nursing one of hockey's dreaded lower-body injuries while the rest of the team headed to St. Louis for Saturday night's game. The injury isn't believed to be serious and he hopes to play at least one more game before the playoffs. But at 40, in his 22nd NHL season, the certainties grow rarer and rarer.

One thing is clear. When Yzerman leaves the game, he won't be driven out by a weakened desire or a lessened role. The guy is as determined as ever, part of the reason the Wings won the Presidents' Trophy while handling a delicate transition under no-nonsense coach Mike Babcock.

Some people had written off the Wings as serious contenders. More had written off Yzerman as a serious contributor.

He heard it. He even sort of understood it. But he politely declined to yield.

"I noticed," he said, smiling. "I've been written off before, though. I don't really care, but you do find out what some people are like."

Back to form

Yzerman's revival has been remarkable, if not completely surprising. His 11-game point streak -- the longest on the team and his longest in 10 years -- ended last week. His minutes have gone from 8-10 a game to 14-16, playing on a scoring line with Robert Lang and Jason Williams. With 14 goals, despite missing 20 games, Yzerman has 692, eighth on the NHL's career list. He won't reach 700 this season (playoff totals don't count) and he said the milestone isn't something he'd return to chase.

It will be health and only health -- the oft-repaired right knee and occasionally achy neck -- that determines his fate. Yzerman brushes aside retirement talk with a standard (but telling) statement that he doesn't want to think about it, but pretty much knows what he's going to do. And no, team and personal success probably can't change it.

There is a bit of a Catch-22 here. The better Yzerman feels, the more he plays, the sharper he plays, the more he should play, the tougher it gets on his body.

"Since the knee surgery (in 2002), I've always been working against time," he said. "Certainly there are days I feel I can play forever. And there are a lot of times when enough's enough. But when people ask me if this is my last year, if I was 100 percent certain, I would say that.

"I've been so wrapped up in the season, I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about that stuff. I think I know what I want to do, but I'll let it settle down after the season and go from there. I mean, look at (Green Bay quarterback) Brett Favre. He's somebody I really admire, and the only mistake is talking about (retirement) too much. I think you're better off not saying anything, so it doesn't become a problem for your team."

Yzerman has been consistent on the team issue, ever since the Wings won the first of three championships in '97. He altered his game under Scotty Bowman, accepted more defensive responsibilities and adjusted his playing role without hampering his leadership role.

Always a leader

It wasn't easy early this season playing limited minutes, but Yzerman shook off groin injuries and got better, always targeting this time, playoff time.

"Steve made it very clear to me at the start, 'I don't want anything for free,' " Babcock said. "And yet it came to a point, as an athlete, where you feel you're doing better than maybe the coach does. Early on, I didn't know if he could get healthy. Once he did, he's been unbelievable. The most important part this guy brings is the leadership. He makes people accountable around him just by how hard he competes."

In some ways, Yzerman had to reclaim the locker room after the one-year lockout. The 2003-04 season had ended with Yzerman bleeding on the ice, struck in the face by a puck during the playoffs against Calgary.

He missed 66 games the previous year while recovering from a radical knee-realignment surgery. Still, there wasn't much doubt he would return this season. He knew he had to give it another shot, even with all the uncertainty for a franchise forced to slice its payroll in half.

A team just starting to a roll

The Wings weren't finished as some predicted, and now look like they're just getting started. They subtracted big names and added unknowns such as Mikael Samuelsson, Johan Franzen and Andreas Lilja. And they might be considerably better-equipped for the playoffs.

There are tighter rules and more penalties, which has benefited the Wings' top-ranked power play. That should continue -- if enforcement is consistent.

"The first half of the season, I think we surprised ourselves," Yzerman said. "At this stage, we believe in ourselves. I'd be very disappointed if we don't have an excellent playoff run. I think there's some uncertainty (with the playoff officiating), but I like the way our team is set up. I think we're harder to play, as far as having big bodies and strong guys. We have a little more depth and a little more balance than we've had in the past."

They have eight 20-goal scorers for the first time in their history. They have numerous veterans in the midst of great years, including that other ageless wonder, 44-year-old Chris Chelios.

This has been a season of satisfaction so far, even a season of redemption for the Wings and their aging players. For Yzerman? He has gotten out everything he had hoped to extract, and now pours every last bit back in.

"I've gotten better as the year's gone on, and I feel pretty energetic," he said. "It's been a fun season, a really good atmosphere. We feel we can compete for the Stanley Cup but we can't afford to be thinking about anything else, like who's gonna retire and who's not. We can't be distracted by anything now."

Sounds familiar. To be precise, sounds like the Steve Yzerman of old.