Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Steve Yzerman And The Red Wings Way

07/02/2015 at 12:51pm EDT

from Cristina Ledra of The Sporting News,

Jim Nill and Ken Holland sat at the Detroit Red Wings table at the 2011 NHL Draft in Minneapolis and couldn’t believe what was coming from the nearby Tampa Bay Lightning camp and their protégé Steve Yzerman.

“Kenny and I were kind of sitting back-to-back to him and they were doing their picks and I think that year — and they were the right picks — he picked a bunch of Russians,” Nill said. “We kinda looked at him and said, ‘Stevie’s picking all these Russians.’ And that wasn’t his style all the time and here he was.”

Imagine that: The brain trust that put together something as unique and remarkable as the Russian Five, Yzerman’s former teammates in Detroit, was now nonplussed that the Lightning’s new general manager was gathering his own collection of Russians 20 years later when, similarly, teams just weren’t drafting players from that country.

This wouldn’t be the last time Yzerman borrowed from the Red Wings’ — and Holland’s — model, one that has produced a North American professional sports record 24 consecutive playoff appearances, four Stanley Cup championships and featured scores of Hockey Hall of Fame members.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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