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Jonathan Toews better player than Steve Yzerman, says Steve Yzerman

Canada's Jonathan Toews carries his country's flag after his team defeated Sweden in the men's ice hockey final game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Canada's Jonathan Toews carries his country's flag after his team defeated Sweden in the men's ice hockey final game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

TAMPA – Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks has earned comparisons to Hockey Hall of Famer and Detroit Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman since he entered the NHL.

“Well, we [both] wore No. 19,” quipped Yzerman, now the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It goes well beyond that, of course. They were both young captains. By the end of Yzerman’s career, he personified the kind of dominant two-way center that Toews has been defined as being since he joined the league in 2007. And then there’s the winning thing: Yzerman won three Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, and Toews could win his third with the Blackhawks against Yzerman’s Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.

All that said … who’s the better player?

Yzerman said it’s no contest.

It’s Toews.

“The reality is that Jon is bigger, stronger … better. He just is. Tremendous all-around player, great person,” he said, pumping tires mightily before the Stanley Cup Final in Tampa.

Yzerman was the general manager of the last two Canadian Olympic teams that captured gold, and Toews was a vital part of both, as well as other Canadian national teams.

“I got to meet him at the world championships in person for the first time in 2007, in Moscow. He played for us right out of North Dakota. Fit in on the team, one of our best players,” he said.

The biggest difference between the two is that Yzerman was a different kind of player when he entered the NHL in 1983. He posted 100-point seasons from 1988 through 1993, something Toews has never done. It was only later in his career that Yzerman became the player to which Toews is frequently compared.

“Over the course of my career, my play evolved and became, through [coach] Scotty Bowman and the way he wanted our team to play, we became more defensive-minded players. More well-rounded players,” he said. “And Jonathan’s been that since Day One when he came into the League. Just a complete hockey player.”

So has his team prepares to battle Toews and the Blackhawks for their first Stanley Cup under Yzerman, he claims they’ll be facing a player that is better than he was in the NHL.

“So he’s strong than me. I don’t think I could even take him in a race, so probably faster,” he said. “Just a better hockey player."

Toews was asked what he thought of all the praise.

“I think Steve is very complimentary person," said the captain. "I think everyone here knows that's pretty much untrue"

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