December 13, 2004
BY MARK McDONALD
FREE PRESS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
MOSCOW -- Steve Yzerman will wear the captain's jersey tonight when a slew of Red Wings, former Wings and locked-out NHL stars say da sveedanya to Igor Larionov. But Yzerman almost decided to skip the trip to honor Larionov, 44, who's a legend in Russia. He played with the Red Army, winning two Olympic gold medals and blazing a path for his countrymen to the NHL, where he won three Stanley Cups in Detroit.
For 21 pro seasons, Yzerman has traveled countless miles as one of the world's top hockey players, but he said Sunday that he had avoided trips outside North America since 1998.
"My wife and I have talked a lot about going to Europe," he said, "but when it came down to it, I was a little nervous, kind of apprehensive, about flying over there."
Larionov, who retired after last season, had planned this farewell exhibition for nearly a year. The world team, with Yzerman as captain and Scotty Bowman as coach, will play a Russian team that features on the ice Larionov, Sergei Fedorov and Slava Fetisov and behind the bench, Larionov's KLM linemates from the Red Army, Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov.
Just three weeks ago, Yzerman called Larionov to say he wasn't going to Russia.
"I hung up the phone -- my wife and I were driving to a movie -- and I said, 'You know, I really should go. I WANT to go,' " Yzerman said. "I called him right back, from the car. Since then, I've felt good about the decision.
"It's great to be getting a chance to honor Igor. He was a great teammate and he's a great man."
An eye injury ended Yzerman's season last May 1, during the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He now wears a tinted visor -- bright light irritates his left eye -- but he isn't worried about his long layoff. Yzerman, who turns 40 in May, had no problems in a charity exhibition Dec. 2 at Ann Arbor's Yost Arena.
"I'm just excited to be back on the ice," Yzerman said. "I'm looking forward to playing."
Larionov said his toughest chore in organizing tonight's game was persuading his NHL brethren to travel to Moscow.
"Many of them were scared after the September terrorist attacks," he said. Chechen rebels seized a school in Beslan on Sept. 1. During a two-day siege, more than 330 people were killed, at least 172 of them children. "I had to persuade them that they would be secure."
And the players have come. Some have come from North America, where they are waiting out the NHL lockout, which started Sept. 15. Some have come from their European teams, where they are playing to stay busy and earn a few bucks. Some have come out of retirement, such as Bowman, Fetisov and former Wings defenseman Steve Duchesne.
The roster for the world team includes a dozen Wings, including center Kris Draper, winger Brendan Shanahan and defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios (a fledgling Greek national bobsledder). Bowman, who led the Wings to Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998 and 2002, will direct the squad, with assistance from Wings coach Dave Lewis and associate coach Barry Smith.
"We know there will be a lot of good plays, but the final result won't be important," Bowman said. "The important thing is the efforts the players have made to come here."
Larionov's team will be captained by Fetisov, another former Wing who is now the head of the Russian sports federation.
Larionov, a center, and Fetisov, a defenseman, played together for the vaunted Red Army team. They battled the Soviet hockey machine for the right to play in the NHL and made the jump in 1989, Fetisov with the New Jersey Devils and Larionov with the Vancouver Canucks.
Fetisov played nine NHL seasons. He retired from the Wings after the 1998 season, then was an assistant with the Devils before returning to Russia.
Larionov played 15 seasons, with Vancouver, San Jose, Detroit, Florida and New Jersey. He has skated with locked-out Wings this fall in suburban Detroit.
Fetisov, 46, still looks fit. He plays soccer, tennis and water polo at his sports club but doesn't get much time to skate.
"All the pressure of my work slims me down," he said.
He was asked which is harder -- hockey or politics?
"Hah! What do you think?" he replied. "In a hockey game, everything's clear -- you have your position, your teammates, the fans, the referees. In politics, they come up from behind you, from the sides, from nowhere."
In Fetisov's last game, he hoisted the Stanley Cup. Nothing should be as dramatic tonight, but ...
"I expect it will be more intense than an NHL All-Star Game," Yzerman said. "I know it's an exhibition game, but I want to play well. I want people in Moscow who follow the NHL to think I'm a decent player.
"I don't want them leaving the rink thinking, 'That guy's a stiff.' "
NOTEBOOK: Yzerman said again that he likely would retire if the NHL season were canceled.
"If they announce we're not going to play, I don't see myself skating through the winter recreationally and then coming back," he said. "I'm taking the approach: 'Let's see what happens.' I've been preparing through the summer and the fall, hoping that we'll play in January. If we don't, I'll reassess.
"It's not realistic for me to go to Europe and play the remainder of the hockey season. I won't be doing that."
Yzerman has a one-year contract with the Wings, for $4.5 million. On Tuesday, the NHL will give its response to last week's new proposal from the NHL Players' Association, which included a 24-percent salary rollback and a luxury tax. Yzerman, showing more optimism than most observers, said he thought a new collective bargaining agreement could be struck in the coming weeks.
"With the last proposal the players made, I've got to believe they're going to get a deal done," he said. "It might not necessarily happen Tuesday but by the New Year, and we'll be playing in January. The concessions by the players have been so significant. We're too close. I just don't see us not playing."