Top 37 Quotes & Sayings by Steve Yzerman

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Canadian athlete Steve Yzerman.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Steve Yzerman

Stephen Gregory Yzerman is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey player currently serving as executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he spent all 22 seasons of his NHL playing career. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he is a Detroit sports icon and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. After his retirement as a player, he served in the front office of the Red Wings, and then as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, while also being executive director for Team Canada in two Olympics.

Playoff hockey is the best way to market your team. It's the best way to grow your fan base and give hope to your players and for them to develop.
I don't know that I'd agree I was our best player.
We penalize and suspend players for making contact with the head while checking, in an effort to reduce head injuries, yet we still allow fighting. We're stuck in the middle and need to decide what kind of sport do we want to be. Either anything goes and we accept the consequences, or take the next step and eliminate fighting.
I also feel I adapted. I was willing to try to fit into any role. The way I figured, it was always up to me to prove my worth, that I deserved to be here.
I wore No. 19 because of Bryan Trottier. I liked the overall aspect of his game. I liked the way he conducted himself on the ice. He was a quiet guy. He played really hard; just a good all-around, prototypical center man who could do everything.
As a kid in British Columbia, going back a long way, I learned to skate.
And for the team, I always tried to do the right thing.
It's been a great honor for me to be a player for the Detroit Red Wings, to play for an Original Six franchise. I know I'm far from perfect, but I learned a lot. — © Steve Yzerman
It's been a great honor for me to be a player for the Detroit Red Wings, to play for an Original Six franchise. I know I'm far from perfect, but I learned a lot.
I hope people like me and appreciate me the way I am.
We have two tables on our airplane that are set up with the games.
I knew if I wanted to be a general manager, I was going to have to leave to work for another organization.
Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings.
Darren McCarty is a big video game guy, and he brings his systems with him on the road.
It's almost like you see too much, because when it happens for real, everything flies at you so fast, you never get a sense of the ice and where everyone is at that one moment.
When it gets to this point, it's just hard to pull the trigger.
The 70's hair with the long on the sides, just doesn't look good coming down the sides of the helmet.
When you're on the ice, you have very little time, you see very little, and everything happens really quick.
Since the season ended, I've let things settle down, and I have to talk to the coaching staff and management. I really don't want to turn this into a big drama. So I plan on making a definite decision relatively quickly.
I'm very confident my health isn't going to allow me to be a good player, especially in the spring. — © Steve Yzerman
I'm very confident my health isn't going to allow me to be a good player, especially in the spring.
I've been hit hard a few times, been hit really hard a few times, but I don't think I've ever left a memorable, lasting impression on anyone I've ever hit.
We have to get better at that. All of the Stanley Cup winning teams throughout the past few seasons, when they needed to play defense, they did it. If you can play defense, that's when you know it's game over.
I don't know if I've ever had a memorable body check. It's not really part of my game. — © Steve Yzerman
I don't know if I've ever had a memorable body check. It's not really part of my game.
There used to be an old thing where every team had a heavy bag in their locker room for people to punch, but again, it was more about conditioning because if you hit a heavy bag for a minute, it feels like your arms are about to fall off.
Whether somebody is really competent - whether he has a good hockey mind, whether he's a good person to lead a hockey club - is something determined over a long period of time, not one tournament.
We used to play a lot outdoors, not in leagues, but just in our spare time.
I'm exhausted trying to stay healthy.
Balanced is probably what I am, although that's just a polite way to say that you don't do anything very well.
I look forward to a lot more free time, at least initially, with my wife, Lisa, and our three children.
It's true that in Canada, we pride ourselves on the game, and we like to think we're the dominant hockey nation in the world.
I'm never gonna play again, and I know I'm really, really going to miss it.
I consider the Detroit Red Wings one of the greatest franchises in any sport. For a player to come in and play, it's so special to wear the jersey.
As long as I could remember, since I was 5 years old, I watched the Stanley Cup. I stayed up, made a point of watching it presented, watched the celebration in the locker room, and always dreamed that maybe I'd get there.
I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone's knee, is to never play again and retire. But I'm not going to do that. — © Steve Yzerman
I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone's knee, is to never play again and retire. But I'm not going to do that.
We should've been better, more disciplined. We made untimely mistakes defensively, as a group. This is really humbling for us. After winning the Stanley Cup, we got brought back down to earth, hard. Maybe the humbling is good for us in the long run.
One of the advantages, one of the special things, about playing in Detroit or Montreal is guys like Gordie Howe walk in the room. I didn't know he was here tonight, it was kind of a coincidence to get that assist on a night that he's here.
People here want the team to win and to do well. The thing is, we know when to shoot the puck.
We’re stuck in the middle and need to decide what kind of sport do we want to be. Either anything goes and we accept the consequences or take the next step and eliminate fighting.
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