July 4, 2006

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Steve Yzerman reluctantly retired Monday. "This is all I've ever done is play hockey my whole life," he said. (KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/Detroit Free Press)
If Steve Yzerman had his choice, he would retire at age 100, after his 58th consecutive Stanley Cup. Although frankly, he wouldn't be happy about it.

There was no perfect time for Yzerman to retire. If he went out on top, he would wonder if he could have stayed on top. If he waited too long, he would wish he'd left earlier.

So this isn't perfect. But it's right. Yzerman leaves the ice knowing he squeezed every ounce of talent out of his aching body -- and at the end, he was still a productive player.

As he said Monday: "I'm glad I didn't pack it in in November."

He came close, so close. Steve Yzerman's retirement, pretty much the biggest hockey story ever in these parts, almost happened in the dead of the early regular season, with nobody paying attention.

"I had planned to retire," said Yzerman, who had informed general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock of his decision. "I had some injuries there, I felt terrible and our team was doing well. We were in California and I had been thinking about it for a little bit and debated it just by myself. At one point, Kenny coincidentally had just come into town. I talked to him and Mike in San Jose one day. I wasn't happy with how I felt and my team was doing well.

"I said, 'You know what? I wouldn't mind coming home.' There wasn't going to be any announcements before the game about a 'final game.' But you know what, I would have liked to play one more game in Joe Louis Arena and go from there. I was hoping to do it quietly, with one more game, then go."

The one game was going to be Dec. 1 against Calgary. Yzerman said Monday that there was no "if" about it. The decision was made.

Then, in what was supposed to be the second-to-last game of Yzerman's career, center Robert Lang injured his groin against Los Angeles. Now his team suddenly had more ice time for him. After the game in L.A., Holland asked Yzerman, "What do you want to do?"

"I kind of chuckled," Yzerman said. "He said, 'I've got 12 forwards' -- including myself. He said, 'Langer's hurt. Go out there and play. And then if things aren't going good, if you still want to do it, do it.' We played a few games and as it turns out I got hurt again. Then we got through Christmas and I was like, 'Well, we gotta make the best of this.' "

Incredibly, Yzerman became one of the Wings' best players by the end of the season. A lot of people thought that would change his mind. But it was time. He knew it. Since the 2002 osteotomy on his right knee -- an unprecedented surgery for a professional athlete -- it was amazing that Yzerman held a hockey stick instead of crutches.

"When I look back, that was really kind of the end of my career for me, in '02," Yzerman said. "With my knee I have kind of struggled since then."

Ironically, as soon as the Wings came up with a way for Yzerman to play next year, it clinched his decision to retire. They told him that when the Wings played on back-to-back nights, he could skip the second game. When his knee didn't feel right -- which, face it, is pretty much every day -- he could skip practice. Then he would be fresh for the playoffs.

That's the only way this would work. And Yzerman wasn't interested. Captains don't skip games.

"It's just unrealistic to think I can play every game and practice every day," Yzerman said. "I know I can't. And I don't want to be part time. I don't want to be sitting up there watching games, when I'm just sitting up there so I can be healthy later on. I don't want to do that."

When a great athlete retires, we often talk about how difficult it must be to end a career during the prime of your life. Yzerman, after all, is only 41. He is only old by the standards of professional sports. Listening to Yzerman on Monday, I realized that this must be even harder than I thought.

After all, most of us choose a profession in our 20s. A lucky few do so as a teenager. Yzerman chose the NHL when he was 5.

"This is all I've ever done is play hockey my whole life," Yzerman said. "Since we started at 5, all I've done is play hockey. I've got the same routine. Summers off, play the game all year long. Whether I was 5 or 40, that's what I've done. It's a way of life that I love. To know that it's over -- maybe you can play another year or whatever -- that's what makes it hard. But being here today I feel even stronger that this is what I have to do.

"Everything I do is sports. That's all I want to do is sports. All I wanted to do was be a professional hockey player and play in the NHL. That's all I wanted to do."

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or rosenberg@freepress.com.