Some Hall-of-Fame leftovers
Steve Yzerman took on all topics this afternoon at the Hall of Fame ring ceremony and press conference. He was asked about picking the Canadian Olympic team, about the recent rash of head-hunting that's going on in the NHL, about his transition to front office work, on and on.
I did manage to sneak a question about the current state of affairs with the Wings. Here's what he said:
"We knew we were losing players but we didn't know we'd lose Franzen, Filppula and Jason Williams. We used to have a lot of depth and now we don't. But I think our team has played very hard and we've competed hard. We've been in every game except for the game at Buffalo, which was disappointing. I attribute that one to the trip to Europe. That caught up to us there because we had no legs.
"It's going to be difficult without the scoring depth that we had. There's going to be a lot more times where we have to win close games. We are going to need better goaltending from our two goalies to give us a better chance. But you look around the league now and every game just about ends in a shootout or overtime.
"We are going to have to keep plugging away."
He was asked about Scotty Bowman's influence on his career: "In 1993-1994 he completely changed the way he coached. He basically came in and challenged us to be better defensive players. He basically said he didn't care who we were, if we didn't play both ends of the rink, we weren't going to play. He made us all better players. He made us stronger players and he made us more confident players. He really challenged us and we were able to meet that challenge. Looking back on it, I really enjoyed playing for him. He changed the way we played, made us be more committed to other parts of the game. You know, he expected us to play the game the way he wanted it played. He wasn't going to hold your hand. He wasn't going to babysit you. He expected us to be professional and as long as we were professional at the rink, he left us alone."
Talking to Brett Hull, too, he gave a lot of credit to his center and former Wing Adam Oates.
"Our chemistry on the ice was unreal," he said. "It's so easy when you have a guy who all he wants to do is give you the puck so you can score. He felt about getting assists the way I felt about scoring goals. I can't even guess how many goals I would've scored had he not been traded."
Hull said he have the same chemistry with a center again in his career until 2002 when he played with then-rookie Pavel Datsyuk.
Of Yzerman's heroic play in 2002, battling a knee injury all the way through, Hull said: "It was the greatest nine-week journey through the playoffs I'd ever seen. He could barely get up when he got knocked down. But the way he led us to victory is something I will never forget."
Hull was asked, hilariously, if Yzerman ever helped him in practice. "He never helped me in practice. We weren't practice people, we were gamers. I always said, I think I'd still be playing if I never had to practice."
