Yzerman Has Hand in Two Trophies
WASHINGTON — Veteran Detroit center Steve Yzerman did not score a point in the Red Wings’ 4-1 clinching victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night but he did enough during the playoffs to take home the Conn Smyth Award, given to the most valuable player of the postseason.
“This is pretty exciting because I haven’t won anything in my career aside from last year’s Stanley Cup,†said Yzerman, the leading scorer during the playoffs with 24 points in 22 games. “I guess they can’t trade me now.â€
Yzerman, 33, can now rest after playing an entire regular season and the playoffs with the Red Wings that wrapped around a two-week stretch playing for Canada in the Olympics.
“It’s been a draining year, but a very enjoyable one,†Yzerman said. “It was great to end it tonight so we don’t have to play any more this season.â€
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Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman avoided answering whether he will return next season, which would be his 27th.
“I guess I have to leave after one of them,†Bowman said “This might be as good as any time as any to leave. But, I’m not going to make it now. I’ll give it some time and I’ll know within the next couple of weeks after I sit down with [Detroit General Manager] Ken Holland and [Assistant GM] Don Waddell.â€
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As expected, Washington Coach Ron Wilson was not in a good mood after his Capitals’ season ended with a four-game losing streak.
“They seemed to beat us in just about every area,†Wilson said of the Red Wings. “Not by a large margin, but in a lot of ways. Obviously, the experience of playing in the finals and handling that, maybe having played some tougher opponents sort of hardened them a little more than we. They were challenged in the earlier rounds . . . no disrespect to the teams we played, but we weren’t challenged to the extent Detroit was.â€
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NHL general managers recommended several rule changes for the 1998-99 season that will be decided on by the League’s Board of Governors on June 25.
The most radical of the proposed changes would give each team an equal number of games with two referees beginning next season. The league has used two referees in some exhibition games since 1992 and before this system can be implemented in the regular season, an agreement must be reached with the NHL Officials’ Assn.
Other suggested rule changes include: moving the goal line from 11 feet from the end boards to 13, which would reduce the neutral zone from 58 feet to 54; reducing the semi-circle of the goal crease by two feet on either side of the goal posts, with a straight line being drawn from the “L†shaped marking to the goal line; and giving the video goal judge the authority to call down to the referee to advise that a player was in the crease at the time a goal was scored.
