Career Comparison: Joe Sakic vs Steve Yzerman 

Both captains & both teams were exciting to watch, even as a non fan of either teams. One thing to note about Yzerman is that he completely changed the way he played when Bowman became coach. He gave up numbers to play a more defensive game, & led by this example & ultimately led to their championships. Both are such class acts & both got it done. Great players in a great era.

As a Wings fan, I'm obviously biased. Plus, I've got some numbers to back me up. In my arrogant opinion, The Captain wins out. But not by much. Sakic was a beast in his own right. Always got nervous if he had even a 3 on 2 against the Red Wings. His wrist shot was a killer. My favorite story about him was the conversation between Brett Hull and Avery. Hull was right. To me, they both deserve a massive amount of admiration, and I thank both for their past, present, and future contributions to the sport. Pretty fair to say that I never have - and probably never will - root for any team that Sakic is or will be associated with. Nevertheless, he has my never-ending respect as a most worthy opponent. And he's a class act, to boot. I wish him well - unless his team plays the Red Wings, of course . This video was well done. Cheers.

I don’t know how old you guys are, but this was a great video. As someone who watched damn near every second of this rivalry (I was 23 in ‘97) this was THEE GREATEST time of my hockey watching life.

Yzerman was the toughest pro athlete I ever saw. 80% of his career he played with a cadaver’s ACL. Only pro athlete to undergo an osteotomy (sawing femur in half and repositioning to take pressure off his knee). doctors said it would take him a year to learn to walk again. Same year he won the Stanley Cup. Had 3 vertebrae in his neck fused together and could barely turn his head.

What a crazy rivalry this was. They both won the cup and they had to go through eachother to get there

great video ... looking forward to more

Sakic is Mr Clutch , regular season M.V.P , Olympic M.V.P , Playoffs M.V.P , at one time Sakic had the most playoffs overtime Goals, a Humble Man .

Not only were Stevie Y and Joe Sakic paralells, the Wings and Avs of that time were pretty evenly matched, up and down their line-ups.

Parallel Players forever!!!

This was great

Even during the height of the Wings/Avs rivalry, I always had respect for Joe Sakic. He was the only guy on their team that I didn’t despise. Side note: those Quebec jerseys with the fleur-de-lis pattern on the bottom are still dope AF.

They were both on the 2002 Canadian Olympic Men’s Hockey Team that won Gold!

Who would have thought back then that these guys would be two of the leagues best team builders today

Both Gold medalists on the 2002 Team Canada!!

Easily the most similar hockey careers I've ever seen.

#19's I woulda loved to have either!!!

Very professional radio voices.

One of the greatest videos anyone should go watch who loved this rivalry is watching Darren McCarty's show talking about fight night at the Joe. He's dying laughing when all this is going down and here is two of the toughest guys in the NHL, Adam Foote and Brendan Shanahan watching it all go down together, because they would've been tossed he said had they gotten into it. So you knew what was coming in the next period. lol.

Well done fella. Super Joe for the win!

2006 Team Canada, Steve Yzerman misses chance to play and Joe Sakic refused to wear number 19 (the number both he and Yzerman wore on their NHL teams) out of respect and to honor Yzerman, Joe Sakic is a special person, and he knew that Yzerman was to, those two are what a captain and a good man looks like, as an Avs fan I love Yzerman as I despise the rest of the team, that's passed now since about 30 years have passed, now I just love the sport no matter what team, Avs always first though

As a Redwings fan, I hated the bastard but, in the same breath, had mad respect for him. It truly was a great rivalry.

the slap I get when I see this, what an era!!!! Captain super Joe I had his Nordic jersey. 28 years ago I was in piwie

I'll take Sakic.

when i was about 10years old, my father told me joe sakic was the best player in the world, since then, he has been my favourite player :D

Imagine an Avs vs Wings SCF with BOTH of them GMing their respective teams! 😂😂😂

PEPE Lemeuix was such a coward throughout his career,a backstabbing turtle.But todays NHL awards Backstabbers with contract extensions...ask anouncer Ron MacLean,the definition of the phrase.

Sakic performed well from his very beginnings in the NHL. No adjustment period needed even though he was playing for the worst team in the league. Sakic has a better points per game average in regular seasons AND in the playoffs even though he had his prime in the dead puck era. He won the Hart and the Conn Smythe. He holds the record for the most overtime goals in the playoffs. He holds the record for the longest span of time between his first 100-point season and his last 100-point season. Best player of the 2002 Olympics, especially in the grand final.

At least Sakic beat Yzerman for that last cup.

They won Olympic gold together😊

My Theory's always been that they're somewhat karmic Brothers of Somethin!

I’d take SY!!!!

Yzerman was the toughest pro athlete I ever saw. 80% of his career he played with a cadaver’s ACL. Only pro athlete to undergo an osteotomy (sawing femur in half and repositioning to take pressure off his knee). doctors said it would take him a year to learn to walk again. Same year he won the Stanley Cup. Had 3 vertebrae in his neck fused together and could barely turn his head.

Yzerman was the toughest pro athlete I ever saw. 80% of his career he played with a cadaver’s ACL. Only pro athlete to undergo an osteotomy (sawing femur in half and repositioning to take pressure off his knee). doctors said it would take him a year to learn to walk again. Same year he won the Stanley Cup. Had 3 vertebrae in his neck fused together and could barely turn his head.

Yzerman was the toughest pro athlete I ever saw. 80% of his career he played with a cadaver’s ACL. Only pro athlete to undergo an osteotomy (sawing femur in half and repositioning to take pressure off his knee). doctors said it would take him a year to learn to walk again. Same year he won the Stanley Cup. Had 3 vertebrae in his neck fused together and could barely turn his head.

Yzerman was the toughest pro athlete I ever saw. 80% of his career he played with a cadaver’s ACL. Only pro athlete to undergo an osteotomy (sawing femur in half and repositioning to take pressure off his knee). doctors said it would take him a year to learn to walk again. Same year he won the Stanley Cup. Had 3 vertebrae in his neck fused together and could barely turn his head.