Steve Yzerman Quotes

When it gets to this point, it's just hard to pull the trigger.

- Steve Yzerman

We have two tables on our airplane that are set up with the games.

- Steve Yzerman

As a kid in British Columbia, going back a long way, I learned to skate.

- Steve Yzerman

When you're on the ice, you have very little time, you see very little, and everything happens really quick.

- 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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

The 70's hair with the long on the sides, just doesn't look good coming down the sides of the helmet.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings.

- Steve Yzerman

Darren McCarty is a big video game guy, and he brings his systems with him on the road.

- Steve Yzerman

We used to play a lot outdoors, not in leagues, but just in our spare time.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

I look forward to a lot more free time, at least initially, with my wife, Lisa, and our three children.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

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 take anything for granted.

- Steve Yzerman

I knew if I wanted to be a general manager, I was going to have to leave to work for another organization.

- Steve Yzerman

Balanced is probably what I am, although that's just a polite way to say that you don't do anything very well.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

I'm very confident my health isn't going to allow me to be a good player, especially in the spring.

- Steve Yzerman

And for the team, I always tried to do the right thing.

- Steve Yzerman

I'm exhausted trying to stay healthy.

- Steve Yzerman

I don't know that I'd agree I was our best player.

- Steve Yzerman

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.

- Steve Yzerman

I hope people like me and appreciate me the way I am.

- Steve Yzerman