Steve Yzerman knew Dylan Larkin well as a player and heard good things about him as a person but wanted to take some time before deciding whether he should be the next Detroit Red Wings captain.
After watching his performance on the ice and his conduct away from the rink during a difficult season, Yzerman was convinced Larkin was ready for the C.
“He stands out as a leader in his work ethic, his competitiveness, his commitment, his inner drive to be really good, to win,” Yzerman said.
“He’s a really good person. He’s a mature young man. He’s responsible. He cares. We feel with our team, the age he’s at (24), where we are as an organization, his maturity as a hockey player, he just has a lot of attributes that make him a natural leader and perfect fit for us as our captain.”
It is an exclusive club. Yzerman was the longest-serving captain in NHL history (22 seasons). Nicklas Lidstrom wore the C the next six seasons and Henrik Zetterberg for six more. The Red Wings had only alternate captains, of which Larkin was one, the past two seasons.
“I strongly believe he represents our organization extremely well,” Yzerman said. “He’s extremely proud to be a part of the Red Wings organization and has a burning desire to be successful here.”
Yzerman said there is no cookie-cutter design for a captain. He told Larkin to be himself. But all ideal captains share some traits.
“The greatest thing about Nicklas Lidstrom, whether he was the captain or not, we could count on Nick every single day,” Yzerman said. “He showed up at practice, he worked hard at practice. He didn’t say a whole lot, but when he spoke, when you talked to him, he was very intelligent and very astute. But every game -- preseason, regular season, playoffs, home, road -- we could count on Nick to be a great player for us. That was very reassuring. That was his form of leadership was just his consistency and his work ethic and the high level of play.
“I see in Dylan’s work ethic and his drive and determination, it’s there on a daily basis. We all saw it last year even with our team, with the poor record that we had. I can’t say there were too many nights I said Dylan didn’t bring it tonight. He brought it every day in practice and every night in the games. Those are the things that really stood out to me. It was just pretty clear as the year went on and just getting to know him more and talking with him, didn’t really change anything, which we felt initially at the start of the season.”
Yzerman said the organization was impressed with the way Larkin conducted himself in media interviews after losses during a difficult season.
“Being the captain, you take a lot of responsibility,” Yzerman said. “I think you’re expected to be there, the fans want to hear what you have to say. It’s a challenge to come up with a good answer at times without stating the obvious. It wears on everybody. When you’re constantly losing, you have really bad losses, it’s draining for everybody, whether it’s players, coaches, management, fans. But players, you just got to show up for work the next day and answer. When you struggle and you go through it, I think you can learn a lot from it, and it makes you certainly appreciate when things are going well. Again, I look back on all the experiences … you try to learn from them, and I think ultimately you get stronger and get better through them.”
Yzerman informed Larkin of the decision during a meeting at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday. Both wore masks, but Yzerman said, “I’m doing to confess we did shake hands at the end of the conversation. I don’t know about Dylan, but I immediately went to the hand sanitizer afterward. So, I hope the protocol police will accept that.”
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