Motown master gets immortalized

Jean LeFebvre, Calgary Herald

Yzerman's No. 19 hits rafters at The Joe tonight

"I remember my first couple of years," said Flames right-winger Darren McCarty, a longtime Yzerman associate, "there were all these trade rumours of him going to Ottawa because he couldn't be a Scotty Bowman player.

"There was no chance that was going to happen. It was just Scotty tactics."

The Mad Coaching Genius's master plan? Turning the offensively dynamic but somewhat one-dimensional Yzerman into an all-round standout.

"That was his maturation," suggested McCarty. "A great hockey player becoming one of the best two-way players. That was part of his developing into a true leader and one of the best captains the league's ever seen."