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No one in NHL history wore the 'C' as long as Stevie Y.
Steve Yzerman was the captain of the Red Wings for 20 years, taking the helm as a 21-year-old in 1986, and led Detroit to three Stanley Cup titles. His No. 19 will be the sixth jersey to be retired to the rafters in Joe Louis Arena, and he's a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame when the three-year waiting period expires in 2009.
That's pretty lofty praise for a skinny kid from the Peterborough Petes who was the fourth overall pick in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. He never went back to Peterborough, making the Red Wings as an 18-year-old and scoring 39 goals and 87 points in his first year. He was an easy selection for the all-rookie team.
Yzerman took over as team captain in 1986, and the goals kept on coming. In 1987-88 he topped 50 goals and 100 points for the first time. He would go on to score 692 goals, 1,063 assists and 1,755 points in 1,514 NHL games.
Only five players in history scored more points than Yzerman.
Despite his personal success, the Red Wings were annual playoff disappointments. As captain, Yzerman started taking a lot of heat in Motown.
All that changed in 1997 and 1998, when Yzerman and the Red Wings won back-to-back Stanley Cup chmpionships. Yzerman won the Conn Smyth Trophy as playoff MVP in 1998, ending all doubts about his post-season pedigree.
For good measure, Yzerman and the Wings won the Stanley Cup again in 2002, just months after he had helped Canada win a gold medal at the Olympics.
Those awards went on the shelf with his 1989 Lester B. Pearson Award (MVP as voted by the players), his 2000 Selke Award (top defensive forward) and the 2003 Masterton Award (perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey). He was also a 10-time NHL All-Star.
By the time he retired, though, it wasn't the individual exploits that people remembered. Steve Yzerman was not just one of the greatest scorers in NHL history, but one of its greatest team players, one of its greatest citizens.
One of its greatest captains.
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