Quote (jaykardux @ Apr 17 2011 05:04pm)
I think AGE is the reason Yzerman stopped putting up 100 point seasons. Lots of older guys in the twilight of their careers shift the focus of their games when they've lost a step. (Or, in Yzermans case, a leg). Being the great player and leader he was he still knew what he could add for team success.
You'll never see me diss Yzerman, one of the classiest guys to ever don an NHL jersey in my time as a fan.
This is so wrong. It was Scotty Bowman.
It's not a coincidence that Yzerman stopped putting up 100 point seasons and the Wings started winning cups.
Yzerman had the offensive potential to just be under Gretzky as during the 1988–89 season Yzerman recorded 155 points (65 goals/90 assists), a total that only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have surpassed.
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When Scotty Bowman took over as coach in 1993, Yzerman initially chafed under Bowman's stern coaching style. Bowman, for his part, felt that Yzerman was not concentrating enough on defense; Bowman had long expected his forwards to be good back-checkers as well. Relations between the two became so strained that at one point, the Red Wings seriously considered trading him to the Montreal Canadiens in 1994 for Mathieu Schneider and a 1st Round Draft pick at the behest of Jacques Demers who at the time was the coach of the Canadiens and had previously coached Yzerman in Detroit. However, Yzerman gradually became a better defender, and is now considered one of the best two-way forwards in the history of the game.[12]