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Yzerman: The Making of a Champion
Skilled, determined, tireless, and courageous, Steve Yzerman may be the most revered player in the NHL today. Drawing on the insights of coaches, teammates and league insiders, award-winning writer Douglas Hunter charts Yzerman's career as "the player's player," the embodiment of skill, dedication, sacrifice, and leadership.
Yzerman went fourth overall to the Detroit Red Wings in the very strong 1983 NHL entry draft, which included such prospects as Tom Barasso, Cam Neely, and Pat LaFontaine. He made an immediate impact in the NHL with his dazzling offensive skills. In 1986, having just turned 21, he was made the youngest captain in league history.
Despite his individual success, including being one of the only three players in NHL history to record a 155-point season, Yzerman's team struggled and Detroit's devoted hockey fans wondered when he would reverse the Red Wings' fortunes. When Detroit was unexpectedly bumped from the playoffs in the '95 Stanley Cup final, many fingers, pointed at the captain. Determined to bring a championship back to Detroit, shrugging off persistent trade rumors, Yzerman continued to adjust his game for the good of the team. While his finesse as a playmaker and goal scorer remained in evidence, the gritty centerman blocked shots, drove to the net, and worked tirelessly along the boards in the corners. He led by aggressive example on the ice and with quiet confidence in the dressing room.
In 1997, when the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup since 1955, Yzerman proved he was a winner. He proved it again the next season, when he raised the Cup for a second time and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player. In 2002 the team captured its third Stanley Cup in seven seasons and that same year Yzerman was pivotal in Team Canada's Olympic gold medal victory.
Yzerman went fourth overall to the Detroit Red Wings in the very strong 1983 NHL entry draft, which included such prospects as Tom Barasso, Cam Neely, and Pat LaFontaine. He made an immediate impact in the NHL with his dazzling offensive skills. In 1986, having just turned 21, he was made the youngest captain in league history.
Despite his individual success, including being one of the only three players in NHL history to record a 155-point season, Yzerman's team struggled and Detroit's devoted hockey fans wondered when he would reverse the Red Wings' fortunes. When Detroit was unexpectedly bumped from the playoffs in the '95 Stanley Cup final, many fingers, pointed at the captain. Determined to bring a championship back to Detroit, shrugging off persistent trade rumors, Yzerman continued to adjust his game for the good of the team. While his finesse as a playmaker and goal scorer remained in evidence, the gritty centerman blocked shots, drove to the net, and worked tirelessly along the boards in the corners. He led by aggressive example on the ice and with quiet confidence in the dressing room.
In 1997, when the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup since 1955, Yzerman proved he was a winner. He proved it again the next season, when he raised the Cup for a second time and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player. In 2002 the team captured its third Stanley Cup in seven seasons and that same year Yzerman was pivotal in Team Canada's Olympic gold medal victory.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Hunter
17 books28 followersGo to my website to learn more about my work.
In addition to being a writer and graphic artist, I hold a PhD in history (2015) from York University. I'm currently completing a book on the early career of Canadian landscape artist A.Y. Jackson, covering his formative years leading to the founding of the Group of Seven and his experiences as a soldier and war artist in the First World War. Hopefully, it will be out in 2021.
In addition to being a writer and graphic artist, I hold a PhD in history (2015) from York University. I'm currently completing a book on the early career of Canadian landscape artist A.Y. Jackson, covering his formative years leading to the founding of the Group of Seven and his experiences as a soldier and war artist in the First World War. Hopefully, it will be out in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 31, 2016
This review originally appeared on The Unread Zone:
As a passionate Red Wings fan, I am the natural audience for a biography of Steve Yzerman. When Yzerman retired, I cried, even though I knew it was time. Watching his Top 10 goals video is a thing of beauty. When the crowd at the Alumni Winter Classic chanted “Stevie, Stevie” at Comerica Park it gave me chills.
This history with Yzerman is probably why I found this book so disappointing. Hunter has, in some respects, an impossible job. Yzerman is a famously private person, low key in interviews and hilariously monotone in commercials and public appearances. As a captain, he led by example, not by being a big personality, which made moments like seeing the pure joy when he leaps and leaps in the air after the 2OT goal against St. Louis in 1996 so exceptional. He declined to speak to Hunter for the book, and much of the text is filled with facts and figures that surround Yzerman’s career but do very little to explain why this man is important. The timing of the book isn’t great either; written in 2004 it cannot encompass Yzermans’ entire playing career and does not address his current position as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Yzerman is a player who gave everything to his team and the city of Detroit, bringing the Stanley Cup back to Hockeytown after a 41 seasons, changing his game from pure offense to a two-way player, and providing an example of quiet leadership that is still followed by the Red Wings organization today. Stevie deserves better, and I hope to read that book someday. Until then, plug “Steve Yzerman” into YouTube and start watching. It’s a wonderful way to spend some time with The Captain.
As a passionate Red Wings fan, I am the natural audience for a biography of Steve Yzerman. When Yzerman retired, I cried, even though I knew it was time. Watching his Top 10 goals video is a thing of beauty. When the crowd at the Alumni Winter Classic chanted “Stevie, Stevie” at Comerica Park it gave me chills.
This history with Yzerman is probably why I found this book so disappointing. Hunter has, in some respects, an impossible job. Yzerman is a famously private person, low key in interviews and hilariously monotone in commercials and public appearances. As a captain, he led by example, not by being a big personality, which made moments like seeing the pure joy when he leaps and leaps in the air after the 2OT goal against St. Louis in 1996 so exceptional. He declined to speak to Hunter for the book, and much of the text is filled with facts and figures that surround Yzerman’s career but do very little to explain why this man is important. The timing of the book isn’t great either; written in 2004 it cannot encompass Yzermans’ entire playing career and does not address his current position as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Yzerman is a player who gave everything to his team and the city of Detroit, bringing the Stanley Cup back to Hockeytown after a 41 seasons, changing his game from pure offense to a two-way player, and providing an example of quiet leadership that is still followed by the Red Wings organization today. Stevie deserves better, and I hope to read that book someday. Until then, plug “Steve Yzerman” into YouTube and start watching. It’s a wonderful way to spend some time with The Captain.
January 26, 2014
I enjoyed this book as I found it very informative about the career of Steve Yzerman and those who were involved along the way. It would have been interesting to hear Yzerman's thoughts but maybe not having that makes the author write it in a different style. Helped me gain a better understanding of some of the behind the scenes machinations in the NHL also.
July 23, 2021
Steve Yzerman is my second favorite hockey player of all time, so when I found this biography of course I had to read it.
It starts with his time in the junior leagues in Canada, to him being drafted by the Redwings to help try to rebuild the franchise, to his transition from top-tier scorer to a two-way specialist, to bringing in the Russian players and Scotty Bowman, to finally his success hoisting the Stanley Cup three times.
Why only two stars? I did not enjoy the author’s style. He spent a huge amount of detail on the NHL Entry Draft (two long chapters), and through it he would throw out names of other teams, coaches and players but never really tell any personal stories about any of them. It made me feel like if I did not watch hockey religiously during his career (I did), I would have been completely lost every time he veered away to other players. I don’t think if I started watching hockey now or even ten years ago that I would have heard of Alexi Yashin or Pat LaFontaine.
He also had the tendency to go at length on subjects where Yzerman barely gets mentioned, maybe twice in passing in some chapters. For a while I thought we switched to Yashin’s biography, and then Bowmans.
Then he seemed to run out of time at the most important part. I think longer looks at each of the three Cup runs plus several that failed (which he did go through the losing seasons a bit better) would have been more interesting. Especially how Yzerman directly impacted the wins. He glossed over entire playoff series multiple times and then a quick stat line for the playoffs (so many points in so many games).
It was frustrating to read. If you love Yzerman or the Redwings of his era, then you may want to read this. Casual hockey fans would be better served to read Gretzky’s famous biography.
It starts with his time in the junior leagues in Canada, to him being drafted by the Redwings to help try to rebuild the franchise, to his transition from top-tier scorer to a two-way specialist, to bringing in the Russian players and Scotty Bowman, to finally his success hoisting the Stanley Cup three times.
Why only two stars? I did not enjoy the author’s style. He spent a huge amount of detail on the NHL Entry Draft (two long chapters), and through it he would throw out names of other teams, coaches and players but never really tell any personal stories about any of them. It made me feel like if I did not watch hockey religiously during his career (I did), I would have been completely lost every time he veered away to other players. I don’t think if I started watching hockey now or even ten years ago that I would have heard of Alexi Yashin or Pat LaFontaine.
He also had the tendency to go at length on subjects where Yzerman barely gets mentioned, maybe twice in passing in some chapters. For a while I thought we switched to Yashin’s biography, and then Bowmans.
Then he seemed to run out of time at the most important part. I think longer looks at each of the three Cup runs plus several that failed (which he did go through the losing seasons a bit better) would have been more interesting. Especially how Yzerman directly impacted the wins. He glossed over entire playoff series multiple times and then a quick stat line for the playoffs (so many points in so many games).
It was frustrating to read. If you love Yzerman or the Redwings of his era, then you may want to read this. Casual hockey fans would be better served to read Gretzky’s famous biography.
May 15, 2019
After Stevie Y. was named GM for the Red Wings, I wanted to read a biography to learn more about his career. Sadly, I found this book to be disappointing because it focused very heavily on stats, other players, and other details around Steve Yzerman with very little meat about Yzerman himself. As noted by other reviewers, Hunter had a difficult job because Yzerman is known to be private and did not allow himself to be interviewed for the book. It is clear that Hunter admires Yzerman and definitely loves hockey. He clearly did his research. He conducted interviews with a variety of people who knew Stevie Y. at every point of his career. But it is a very fact-based, statistic-driven book without a lot of warmth.
November 29, 2023
I'm a deep Red Wings fan - can't recommend this book unless you're a hockey person. This book is not what you'd expect, it spends way more time painting a picture of the hockey world during Yzerman's time than focusing only on this one person. If you want a deep expose of his personal life, you're also not going to find that here.
I found the book good for learning more about that time (when I don't remember) and also the details of Yzerman's career that aren't as noteworthy. I wish the author had held off a couple years so this could include the entirety of Yzerman's career instead of ending a couple of years early. Oh well.
The book does some time-jumping which is annoying, but otherwise it is well written.
I found the book good for learning more about that time (when I don't remember) and also the details of Yzerman's career that aren't as noteworthy. I wish the author had held off a couple years so this could include the entirety of Yzerman's career instead of ending a couple of years early. Oh well.
The book does some time-jumping which is annoying, but otherwise it is well written.
January 3, 2019
It starts off strong providing lots of context to the state of the Detroit Red Wings as they draft Steve Yzerman. The last half is not as strong however, and doesn't quite deliver like you would expect. Still a good read, especially if you are interested in the player or the Red Wings at all.
September 28, 2019
Yzerman favourite play of all time and I figured this book was a must For ME. I want impressed to say the least. This books talked to much stats and not enough about him IMO. He was a quiet person to say the least.
December 5, 2020
The book is ok. Because Yzerman is such a private guy I found the book to drag mid way through. Not enough Red wing stuff about Yzerman vs about the draft picks which seemed ongoing and other stuff I found a bit boring
May 10, 2021
Felt like the book could have been much more in-depth. I hope this isn’t the definitive biography on Yzserman. A paragraph or two on those epic battles with Colorado doesn’t do anybody justice for what those were.
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July 21, 2022Overall I thought the book was pretty good. There was no real direct information from Mr. Yzerman in the writing of his book. The offer got most of his information looks like from public sources. It was well researched and did provide some interesting insights into his professional career.
February 2, 2021
From what I remember a very human, gripping account of an inspirational and determined leader on and off...his knees, no, no the ice!
August 31, 2016
I bought this book back in 2004 when it first appeared and thought I had read it, confusing it with a number of books published at the time and especially after Yzerman's 2006 retirement, most notably Heart of a Champion (1996). On a lark, I flipped through a few pages and realized I hadn't read it, and next thing I knew I was 100 pages in. And now I'm glad I picked it up.
At first glance this book is a lot like others about The Captain: he arrived an inauspicious talent taken in the first round, he blossomed into the Number Three scorer in the NHL, he developed into a two-way center, and finally became regarded as a great champion and leader. Standard stuff, yes. But Hunter goes deeper. He is interested in the little things that caused Yzerman's ascendance and eventual transformation, rather than a summary that those things did occur.
Hunter looks at minutiae like Yzerman's conditions in junior, playing for the Peterborough Petes, a team which rolled four lines and focused on balance, on players covering all three zones. He looks at players' height, how much a difference an inch or two means in draft value and where a player will end up. Then he looks at the city of Detroit itself, how its being a city in decline in the 80s aided Yzerman's development because of its lacking nightlife, whereas a city full of distractions like Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles might have meant disaster, or at least in Yzerman becoming just a mediocre player.
In that way, the book reads more like the work of Malcolm Gladwell, something like Outliers in particular, a book in which Gladwell coincidentally looks at junior hockey teams in Ontario. So it isn't the typical sports biography, but rather an anthropological study of what conditions make athletes great. Yzerman, in fact, disappears for long stretches at different times in the book, with players like Ken Linseman coming to the fore. Some might also find the level of detail tedious, but I found it fascinating.
Now, what irked me to no end were the occasional lapses in detail, ironically enough. Little things like mistaking Sylvain Turgeon for his younger brother Pierre, the latter drafted four years after the former, and the error in the number of games Pat Lafontaine played (865, not the 1056 listed in the book). That Hunter was so careful in considering this book, mistakes like these popping up is baffling.
Still, those things aside, which I'll admit many people would miss, it is an enjoyable read, one which makes the reader think about sports in different ways.
At first glance this book is a lot like others about The Captain: he arrived an inauspicious talent taken in the first round, he blossomed into the Number Three scorer in the NHL, he developed into a two-way center, and finally became regarded as a great champion and leader. Standard stuff, yes. But Hunter goes deeper. He is interested in the little things that caused Yzerman's ascendance and eventual transformation, rather than a summary that those things did occur.
Hunter looks at minutiae like Yzerman's conditions in junior, playing for the Peterborough Petes, a team which rolled four lines and focused on balance, on players covering all three zones. He looks at players' height, how much a difference an inch or two means in draft value and where a player will end up. Then he looks at the city of Detroit itself, how its being a city in decline in the 80s aided Yzerman's development because of its lacking nightlife, whereas a city full of distractions like Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles might have meant disaster, or at least in Yzerman becoming just a mediocre player.
In that way, the book reads more like the work of Malcolm Gladwell, something like Outliers in particular, a book in which Gladwell coincidentally looks at junior hockey teams in Ontario. So it isn't the typical sports biography, but rather an anthropological study of what conditions make athletes great. Yzerman, in fact, disappears for long stretches at different times in the book, with players like Ken Linseman coming to the fore. Some might also find the level of detail tedious, but I found it fascinating.
Now, what irked me to no end were the occasional lapses in detail, ironically enough. Little things like mistaking Sylvain Turgeon for his younger brother Pierre, the latter drafted four years after the former, and the error in the number of games Pat Lafontaine played (865, not the 1056 listed in the book). That Hunter was so careful in considering this book, mistakes like these popping up is baffling.
Still, those things aside, which I'll admit many people would miss, it is an enjoyable read, one which makes the reader think about sports in different ways.
October 25, 2015
This book is a biography about one of the best hockey players to play. It describes in great detail about his comeups as a junior and professional hockey player. It starts out about playing for his junior team, the Peterborough Petes, in Ontario Canada. Then progresses to the National Hockey League.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys hockey. To read this book, you need to understand the basis of hockey, or else it might be difficult to read. Although this book in pretty lengthy, it is worth the read because of all the exciting that has made Steve Yzermans career.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys hockey. To read this book, you need to understand the basis of hockey, or else it might be difficult to read. Although this book in pretty lengthy, it is worth the read because of all the exciting that has made Steve Yzermans career.
August 29, 2014
I am a Stevie fan all the way and I felt as though while it is evident the author is passionate about hockey and interested in Yzerman, the book need not be written in the manner it was. It was just jammed packed with person, stat, person, stat, person, stat...etc...and because Stevie declined to be part of the book, no official quotes from him are possible which maybe should have honored wishes.
August 23, 2008
An ok book, but I love the guy.
July 30, 2012
Was not a good book. I could not get interested and I don
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews