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His 400th goal came Oct. 14 in Toronto, in front of his mother Rose and three brothers and after a five-game drought and two-game suspension.
While he was happy, he also was aware bigger milestones lay ahead for players on the team.
“It’s nice to get it out of the way,” Shanahan said. “Reaching 400 is nice. It’s not that big of a deal. We’ve got players going for 600.”
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That would be captain Steve Yzerman and even a goal-scorer as accomplished as Shanahan knew he was just the opening act for what was to come.
While Yzerman has become the public face of the Red Wings’ two Stanley Cup champions, nearly forgotten has been Yzerman, the offensive force.
The convergence of milestones-he reached 900 assists Nov. 17 in Vancouver and was one shy of 600 goals and 1,500 points going into a Nov. 19 game in Calgary-has reminded people about how good Yzerman was and still is.
“Amazing. Simply amazing,” Shanahan said. “Right here is a guy on your team who’s putting his name up there with maybe half a dozen guys in the history of the NHL-and he won’t be done yet.”
Typically, Yzerman has turned the focus away from himself, back to his team, back to others who preceded him.
“You think of 600 goals and of guys stringing a bunch of 50-goal seasons together. It has been a while since I’ve done that,” said Yzerman, whose last big offensive season was a 58-goal year in 1992-93. “I’ve been chipping away at it lately the last few years.
“It my view, it’s an impressive group of guys and impressive group of names. It will be a thrill to be a part of that group. Those guys are my idols and will continue to be my idols-guys I looked up to regardless of whether my name is amongst them are not.”
Yzerman, 34, became the 10th player with 900 assists and will be the 11th with 600 goals. More impressively, the 600-900 club is among hockey’s most exclusive.
It has four members: Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne and Mark Messier.
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