Red Wings havent seen last of injured Yzerman

Friends say captain will keep playing

By Bob Wojnowski / The Detroit News

CALGARY, Alberta --He can’t go out this way. Despite that horrific scene just three days ago, the guess is, Steve Yzerman won’t go out this way.

Everything we know about Yzerman, and everything his closest friends say about him, suggests his career isn’t over, even as multiple fractures around his left eye heal, even as the Red Wings were eliminated in Game 6 against the Calgary Flames on Monday night with a 1-0 overtime loss.

When you see Yzerman writhing on the ice after getting struck with the puck, you reasonably wonder how much more he can take. He had major knee surgery two years ago. He missed six games this season with a groin injury. He lost teeth to an errant stick, but didn’t miss a game.

Haven’t we seen enough of Yzerman’s remarkable resilience to know the real question? It’s not how much more he can take. It’s how much more he thinks he can give. He said earlier he planned to return for his 22nd season, pending resolution of the NHL’s labor situation. More than any injury, the expected lockout is the trickiest factor.

Yzerman was even making plans to wear a face shield and get back in the lineup if the Wings somehow advanced.

“He’s going to play again, there’s no doubt in my mind,” said Steve Thomas, who has lived with the Yzermans since signing with the Wings last November. “I wouldn’t even consider thinking otherwise.”

It’s a relevant issue because of Yzerman’s age (39 on Sunday), his injuries and the collective-bargaining dispute, which could shut down the NHL for a year. But here are the hockey issues that will matter most to the Wings’ long-time captain:

1. His repaired right knee feels fine, and he loves playing the game.

2. He’s still a tremendous leader and an effective player, with 18 goals and 51 points this season. His three playoff goals are second on the team.

3. Even if management partially dismantles the team because of its age and cost, the Wings have a good young core that should keep it a playoff contender.

Yzerman has fought through so much, it’s hard to imagine him walking away, when healthy, from a team that should still win. Any doubts about his competitive hunger were answered when he underwent the radical osteotomy to repair his right knee.

“The thing you have to remember is, he’s having fun,” said ESPN commentator Darren Pang, one of Yzerman’s closest friends. “His knee has been really, really good. As long as he feels he can get around the ice, this type of injury right now has no bearing on him coming back or not.”

In fact, the fractured orbital bone and scratched cornea didn’t stop Yzerman from arriving at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday afternoon around 12:30, after undergoing four-and-a-half hours of surgery the night before. Think about that. If ever a player could be expected to focus on his health, not on the team, that would be it.

Yet there was Yzerman, his face badly bruised, in the dressing room, talking to players and coaches before they departed for Calgary.

“Considering what he went through, his spirits were great,” general manager Ken Holland said.

You also never know what a protracted lockout might do, and there has been little apparent progress in negotiations. If an entire season were lost, Yzerman would be 40 — two years younger than Chris Chelios, another physical marvel, is right now.

“I don’t believe a lockout would affect Steve,” Pang said. “That gives a player as old as him more time to train. I was with him for two weeks at his cottage in the summer and I watched him work out every day, three hours. During a lockout, he’d be doing the same thing.”

There’s more work ahead, obviously, for Yzerman and the Wings. There also will be more questions, some of them pointed. But during these dire days, it’s worth remembering that every time he has fallen, he has gotten back up, eventually.