On May 7, Steve Yzerman told reporters he wasn't yet ready to retire.
"I don't know what the final point is going to be when I say 'that's it,'" he said, "but I'm not there." Since then, though, a work stoppage has become all but certain. No one now believes the season will start on schedule, and there's some chance it
may not take place at all. Time is the enemy of all pro jocks, and Yzerman turned 39 on May 9 of this year.
In yesterday's Detroit Free Press, Yzerman mused on the possibility that he's already played what may only retroactively be considered his last game.
"I've thought a little bit about it, but I've just basically said, 'I'll wait and see what happens with the lockout.' I'll make a decision when I have to. I don't need to do that right now."
As you probably remember, the 2003/04 season ended abruptly for Yzerman in the second period of the Red Wings' Game 5 Conference semifinals loss to the Calgary Flames after Mathieu Schneider's shot took an unexpected bounce and hit him in the face. Here's Yzerman's own description of the harrowing injury:
"I was looking toward the goalie, and the puck redirected off of somebody's knee, and as soon as I turned to look, it was right in my eye. I was immediately scared and just wanted to get off the ice and into the locker room. ... I opened my eye, and I could just see white. At least I could see white or brightness. That was about all. I thought initially that I'm going to lose my whole eye. So when I could see something, I was a little more at ease. Just being able to open my eye and the fact that fluid just didn't start pouring out was a bit of a relief. I wouldn't wish that feeling upon anybody."
(This Detroit Free Press article reports that
Yzerman plans to wear a visor from now on.)
Sure, lots of great players have seen their careers cut short by injury. But this one, scary as it was, shouldn't turn out to have been a career-ender. And yeah, players get to come back to the arena in their street clothes for acknowledgement, like Mike Richter did at Madison Square Garden after he got concussed out of the league. But Yzerman is a special case, and I, for one, would like to see him get his last hurrahs in uniform. Not only is he in sixth place on the all-time leading NHL scorers' list (with 1,721 points in 20 seasons), but he's tied to the Red Wings in a way that no player may ever be linked to another NHL team. It's incredible, in this day and age, that Yzerman should still be playing for the same NHL team that drafted him fourth overall in 1983.
He's the league's longest-serving captain, having worn the C since 1986/87, when he was the team's youngest-ever captain at 21. And sure, he's not the phenom he was in the late '80s and early '90s, but he's yet to enter that embarrassing final career stage in which so many veteran superstars find themselves. (Think of Mark Messier, ending up a liability in New York — or Mario Lemieux, sporadically great between long periods on the IR.)
Consider this: at 33, Yzerman won the 1998 playoff MVP award, scoring 24 points in 22 games on the way to his second Stanley Cup. And Vancouver, St. Louis, Colorado and Carolina fans remember how infuriatingly effective Stevie was in 2002, never mind that he was hobbled, day-to-day on one knee throughout the playoffs.
OK, I know Stevie's not going to get a sendoff like Wayne Gretzky got, with a commemorative video, 75-inch TV, Gary Bettman and a new car. All I mean is that it'd be a shame for an injury and a lockout to conspire to keep Steve Yzerman's fans from giving him the ovation he deserves — not just in Detroit, but all around the league. His last shift should get a reaction from the fans in St. Louis, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver. And when he skates off the ice at Joe Louis Arena for the last time, it shouldn't be with help from the trainers and a towel pressed to his face. It should be under his own steam, and to applause that at least partly expresses the love and appreciation Detroit fans have for this phenomenal player, exemplary captain, and all-around class act.
Yzerman's eye injury prompts Flames coach Darryl Sutter to reflect on his own
Yzerman in 1998: "Twenty seasons would be a good number, and hopefully I can reach that. For now, that's what I'd like to set my sights on."
Chicagoans make a custom "Yzerman Swallows" T-Shirt to wear around Detroit's Greektown