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.

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.

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

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

I'm never gonna play again, and I know I'm really, really going to miss it.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I'm exhausted trying to stay healthy.

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.

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

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 don't know if I've ever had a memorable body check. It's not really part of my game.

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