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
And for the team, I always tried to do the right thing.
I'm exhausted trying to stay healthy.
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.
I don't know that I'd agree I was our best player.
I don't know if I've ever had a memorable body check. It's not really part of my game.
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 knew if I wanted to be a general manager, I was going to have to leave to work for another organization.
I hope people like me and appreciate me the way I am.
When it gets to this point, it's just hard to pull the trigger.
I don't take anything for granted.
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.
I look forward to a lot more free time, at least initially, with my wife, Lisa, and our three children.
When you're on the ice, you have very little time, you see very little, and everything happens really quick.
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.
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.
We used to play a lot outdoors, not in leagues, but just in our spare time.
We have two tables on our airplane that are set up with the games.
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.
Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings.
The 70's hair with the long on the sides, just doesn't look good coming down the sides of the helmet.
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.
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.
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.
I'm very confident my health isn't going to allow me to be a good player, especially in the spring.
I'm never gonna play again, and I know I'm really, really going to miss it.
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.
Darren McCarty is a big video game guy, and he brings his systems with him on the road.
Balanced is probably what I am, although that's just a polite way to say that you don't do anything very well.
As a kid in British Columbia, going back a long way, I learned to skate.
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.
