DETROIT — Steve Yzerman stood at center ice in front of the Stanley Cup, a shining symbol of the glory of the past and goal for the future.
The Detroit Red Wings celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1997 championship before a 3-1 win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday and 1998 championship before a 3-0 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Yzerman, the captain of their 1997, 1998 and 2002 championship teams and an executive on their 2008 championship team, wore his red No. 19 jersey again. As he spoke to the fans at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, he went back to the year the Ilitch family bought the franchise.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the process of getting from 1982 to 1997,” Yzerman said.
Yzerman, of course, became the Red Wings general manager on April 19, 2019. He applies the lessons he learned and mindset he used as a player as he tries to rebuild his former team, and he does it with many former teammates.
“He’s still grinding as he did as a player,” said Nicklas Lidstrom, whose No. 5 hangs in the rafters alongside Yzerman’s No. 19. “He’s grinding to find ways to be successful again. I’ve seen that from him as a player, and I see that as a GM now.”
Video: Yzerman, Konstantinov perform ceremonial puck drop
Lidstrom is vice president of hockey operations, Kris Draper director of amateur scouting and Kirk Maltby a pro scout. Each played on the past four championship teams.
Jiri Fischer, associate director of player personnel, played on the 2002 team. Niklas Kronwall, who works in European player development, and Dan Cleary, assistant director of player development, each played with Yzerman before he retired as a player in 2006 and was a member of the 2008 team.
Darren McCarty, a member of the past four championship teams, said the other alumni don’t see them that much, because “these guys are all busy, trying to get this organization further along.”
The other alumni are rooting for Yzerman and company.
“I know he has the biggest task, to bring the team back to the glory days with some other guys around building the team and sharing some experience,” said Igor Larionov, a member of the 1997, 1998 and 2002 teams, who coaches in the Kontinental Hockey League. “I just wish him the best of luck to have success in today’s game in Hockeytown.”
It’s easy to forget what led up to 1997 and important to recall now that the Red Wings have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past six seasons.
The Red Wings missed the playoffs 15 times in 17 seasons before they selected Yzerman with the No. 3 pick in the 1983 NHL Draft. It still took them 14 years of building the roster and enduring playoff failures until, finally, they won the Cup.
Lidstrom brought up two playoff failures in particular. In 1995, the Red Wings went 12-2 through the first three rounds, then got swept by the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Final. In 1996, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final after winning 62 regular-season games, setting the NHL record, and earning 131 points, one short of the NHL record set by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.
“I think we learned a lot from the disappointments that we had to set us up to be successful, and that’s something we can carry on into the team that we have right now,” Lidstrom said.
Draper said the experience teaches them to identify players who might be able to make it through the same gauntlet they did. They’re looking for skill and hockey sense, of course, but also character and work ethic. Which talented players can stick with the process through hard times? Which ones can handle the adversity of a championship run?
“I think all the guys that are in the front office that were a part of the success of the Detroit Red Wings, every single one of us wants to bring that success back,” Draper said. “The Red Wing logo, the Winged Wheel, it means so much to us, and we have so much pride. We want to bring that back.
“The players that we have in that dressing room, we want them to have the opportunities that we had. The prospects that we draft, we want them to have the opportunities that we had. And that motivates us a lot.
“The work ethic is set by Steve Yzerman, how he works, and it’s just from there.”
Draper usually isn’t home on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, because he’s scouting somewhere. He said before he allowed himself to be at the anniversary celebrations, he cleared it with Yzerman.
When he received a phone call from the boss on Thursday, he thought it would be about everything going on that night or over the weekend. It wasn’t.
“It was work,” Draper said, laughing. “So, I was like, ‘OK.’ It ended up being a good 20-, 25-minute conversation, not what I thought it was going to be.
“That’s just how it is. It’s always going. He’s always thinking. He’s always challenging you. He did that as a player, and now as a boss, he does the same thing.”
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