Forget the Disappointing Game, Remember The Memorable Disappointment

By Adam W Parks

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Red Wings 0 @ Islanders 6

In 1982 Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Red Wings for $8 million. In 1983 he had the fourth overall selection in his first draft as owner. With the help of general manager Jimmy Devellano, Ilitch scouted out the prospects, seeking someone to become the face of his team, someone to restore the Red and kill the 'Dead' in the Wings...He settled for Steve Yzerman.

Yes, all eyes were on Pat LaFontaine. The rookie that bested all other skaters in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during the 1982-83 season (including Mario Lemieux) by racking up 104 goals and 234 points. The all-American that grew up in Waterford Township, Michigan. Yes, LaFontaine was the local kid believed to have the destiny to become the local hero in Detroit.

This Devellano quote came from an archived Detroit Free Press article from Bill McGraw: "He was a local boy who would have been a super marketing tool. We had 4,000 season-ticket owners and had just missed the playoffs (for the fifth year in a row). The cupboard was bare."

The Wings wanted LaFontaine with that fourth pick because they thought he could lead Detroit's restoration process back to NHL respectability and greatness. Instead, the New York Islanders nabbed him with the third pick in an attempt to rekindle a ripening roster and reinforce a declining dynasty.

In 1983 the Mike Bossy-led Islanders won their fourth straight Stanley Cup. In 1984, in LaFontaine's rookie season, they made it all the way back to the Finals only to watch Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers skate away with Lord Stanley's silver, onto a dynasty of their own. It would be the last time the Isles would make it to the Finals, and for LaFontaine, his only shot at raising the Cup.

Yzerman and LaFontaine would always be linked by that moment during the 1983 draft. Had New York gone in another direction, Ilitch and Devellano would have landed their prized pig. And then who knows how Hockeytown history would have been written? Would Yzerman have become The Captain on Long Island? Would Scotty Bowman have ever taken the job? Would we still be mired in a Stanley Cup drought, counting the years since 1955?

Up until Detroit's Championship in the 1997 Finals, Yzerman's career ran along paralleling tracks as LaFontaine's. Both realized impressive individual accomplishments and achievements without laying their hands on the hardware. Yzerman endured trade rumors only to remain in Detroit for all of his 22 seasons. LaFontaine spent his entire career in the state of New York, although he was traded from Long Island to Buffalo in 1991, and returned to New York City in 1997 to finish his NHL playing days with one season with the Rangers.

Yzerman was troubled with knee injuries but persevered through the pain and prolonged his career. LaFontaine, who was also hampered with knee problems, was forced to cut his career short due to a series of concussions. Yzerman played a vital role as the veteran model to an amazingly skilled Russian born skater in Sergei Fedorov. In Buffalo LaFontaine skated alongside hockey's original "Alexander the Great", Alexander Mogilny, former linemate of Fedorov in the Soviet Union.

Both scored game-winning goals that are remembered as two of the greatest series-ending moments in NHL playoff history. Here is LaFontaine's "Easter Epic" goal:



And of course, Yzerman's St. Louis-sized dagger in 2006:



One career was cut short without ever reaching true glory. The other a truly glorified story we know, cherish, and love to retell whenever possible. Yzerman was just inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame a few months ago with former teammates Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille. LaFontaine entered the Hall in 2003, ironically enough along with Mike Ilitch. The player that the owner wanted, and the owner that got lucky. What was at the time a bit of a disappointment for Ilitch in 1983 became his greatest decision since the Pizza! Pizza! marketing campaign.

Now, wasn't that much more enjoyable than reading about that horrifying 0-6 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday?

As for that game, this is all I want to say about it:



"It's been that kind of night, Where nothing's gone right," Ken Daniels.

Peace.