Steve Yzerman quotes:

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.

As long as I could remember, since I was 5 years old, I watched the Stanley Cup. I stayed up, made a point of watching it presented, watched the celebration in the locker room, and always dreamed that maybe I'd get there.

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.

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

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.

We should've been better, more disciplined. We made untimely mistakes defensively, as a group. This is really humbling for us. After winning the Stanley Cup, we got brought back down to earth, hard. Maybe the humbling is good for us in the long run.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

I consider the Detroit Red Wings one of the greatest franchises in any sport. For a player to come in and play, it's so special to wear the jersey.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone's knee, is to never play again and retire. But I'm not going to do that.

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

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

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.

One of the advantages, one of the special things, about playing in Detroit or Montreal is guys like Gordie Howe walk in the room. I didn't know he was here tonight, it was kind of a coincidence to get that assist on a night that he's here.

People here want the team to win and to do well. The thing is, we know when to shoot the puck.

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

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.

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

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