Detroit Red Wings book excerpt: The men who buried the Dead Wings

Excerpt from “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft “ by Helene St. James

The 1983 draft brought life back to the Red Wings. It marked a turning point after a decade of poor talent development and poorer finishes in the standings, distancing the club from the dismal days of the 1970s, when the team was so awful it spurred the sobriquet the “Dead Wings.” It yielded The Captain and the Bruise Brothers and an enigma from the Czech Republic.

It was the first draft for the group of men who had breathed hope into the franchise the previous summer. Mike Ilitch bought the Wings in early June 1982, too late to install his own people before the draft, which was held June 9.

The 1983 draft, especially the club’s first pick, carried all the more importance in light of what had happened the previous draft. Despite finishing with the second-worst record in 1981–82, the Wings didn’t pick until near the end of the first round because of a trade with Minnesota in the summer of 1981. North Stars general manager Lou Nanne swindled Wings counterpart Jimmy Skinner, convincing him to swap first-round picks in exchange for two players — Greg Smith and Don Murdoch — who made little to no impact on the Wings. The North Stars finished sixth and picked second; the Wings finished 20th and picked 17th.

The 1983 draft was, in fact, the first time since 1979 the Wings retained their own first-round pick, having traded away their first-round picks in 1980, 1981, and 1982. (All the trades were disastrous for the Wings, while their trade partners benefited from being able to draft Larry Murphy in 1980 and Brian Bellows in 1982.)

As (Jimmy) Devellano and his top aide, Neil Smith, proceeded through their first season, they zeroed in on three players who they thought could be game-changers: Pat LaFontaine, Sylvain Turgeon, and Steve Yzerman. When the buzzer sounded on the regular season in May, the Wings sat in the 18th spot, giving them their first pick at No. 4. As soon as the Minnesota North Stars took Brian Lawton with the first overall pick, Devellano and Smith knew they’d get one of their guys. LaFontaine was the top choice because he was a prodigy from the Detroit area, but when the New York Islanders grabbed him at No. 3, after the Hartford Whalers had taken Turgeon, the Wings took Yzerman. 

“I saw Steve quite a few times, particularly in the second half of the season,” Smith said in 2021. “As the season went on, we were getting closer and closer to figuring out where we would land in the draft. It was always Sylvain Turgeon, LaFontaine, and Stevie. We saw each of them quite a number of times. We had them rated pretty equally, but LaFontaine was the local guy.”

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When he arrived in Detroit that summer, local papers included explanations on how to pronounce Yzerman: I-zer-man. But soon he was known simply as Stevie, and then “The Captain”— he was honored with the C on his sweater in 1986 when he was 21 years old, making him the youngest in franchise history. Yzerman was quiet but played a thunderous game. He was stoic through playoff heartbreaks, and when he finally won the Stanley Cup on June 7, 1997, at age 32, he embodied a city’s return to glory as he skated a lap with the Cup, his gap-toothed smile an instant, iconic image. Yzerman had won three Stanley Cups by the time he retired in 2006. He had his No. 19 retired in 2007, won another Cup as a front-office member in 2008, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. Yzerman’s 692 goals, 1,063 assists, 1,755 points, plus-184 rating, and 1,514 games all are best in his draft class.

Yzerman alone would have changed the Wings, but as the rounds wore on, the Wings continued to find players who would revive the franchise: Lane Lambert at No. 25, Bob Probert at No. 46, Petr Klima at No. 86, and Joey Kocur at No. 88.

“We had really done some good work, myself and the scouts,” Devellano said in 2021. “We had done a lot of good scouting, because in the second round we got Lane Lambert, who played two or three years for us. Unfortunately, he sustained an eye injury and he never really advanced into the player we thought he could become. But he was an NHL player.

“Further on, we got two 18-year-olds that would a few years later become the two toughest players in the NHL — third round, Bob Probert; fifth round, Joey Kocur. They became known as the ‘Bruise Brothers.’ And, boy, were they tough. And did they ever sell a lot of jerseys. In a later round, we got another tough guy in Stu Grimson [No. 186]. He didn’t play much for us, but he played in the NHL for a long time, and we drafted him — we get credit for him.”

The other picks were defenseman David Korol at No. 68, goaltender Chris Pusey at No. 106, forward Bob Pierson at No. 126, defenseman Craig Butz at No. 146, defenseman Dave Sikorski at No. 166, forward Jeff Frank at No. 206, and forward Charles Chiatto at No. 226.

While Yzerman and Klima in particular had been drafted for their skill, Devellano was excited by how big some of the picks were that year. “You can see by the size of some of these guys that the Red Wings aren’t going to be pushed around much longer,” he said at the time. In addition to Probert, Kocur, and Grimson, Devellano liked Pierson, who stood 6-3 and weighed 213 pounds. “Hopefully, he’ll be one of our goons in the future.”

Lambert had been expected to go in the first round, and even after the eye injury he was billed as a tough, aggressive forward who was good at creating scoring opportunities around the net. He appeared in 176 games for the Wings, and was part of the trade that brought over goalie Glen Hanlon from the New York Rangers.

When the Wings drafted Probert, he was a 6-3, 206-pound 18-year-old whose hard punches belied the soft hands he showed around the net. He started playing for the team in 1985 and was named to the All-Star Game in 1988. His popularity was enormous — fans cherished Yzerman but adored Probert. He fought opponents and fought the law — he scored big goals and got busted for cocaine — and he sold jerseys. He was a combination of big, skilled, and tough not seen in a Wings uniform since Gordie Howe retired. The Wings held onto Probert through multiple arrests, kept him even when he broke curfew and went out drinking the night before Game 5 of the 1988 Conference Finals. It wasn’t until Probert’s play declined—and he was arrested for drunk driving again—that the Wings finally cut ties with him in 1994. But fans still loved him, and cheered, “Pro-bie! Pro-bie!” when he appeared at Yzerman’s number retirement ceremony in 2007. Probert’s 259 points in a Wings uniform ranks second in his draft class; his 2,090 penalty minutes leads the class.

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“He was such a good player,” Devellano said in 2021. “He could score 20 goals, he was tough as nails. He could play with Steve Yzerman, could protect him. He gave you that in flashes. You just don’t dump a guy of that caliber—they’re too hard to get. So we tried to deal with it. We put him in rehab. We invited psychologists to work with him. We tried everything. But Bob’s addiction was so strong. If I had to do it over again, I might not be tolerant.

“Every time he got caught, he would come back and play, and guess what would happen at Joe Louis Arena? He would get a standing ovation. It would go on and on. And I would sit in the stands, and the names on the backs of the jerseys were Yzerman — he was No. 1 — and Probert was No. 2.”

Probert played with Yzerman, fought with Kocur, and drank with Klima. Klima was a daring pick: he was a gifted player, but he was stuck behind the Iron Curtain, and in 1983 that made it uncertain the Wings would ever get him. It took Klima ditching the Czechoslovakian national team during a training exercise in West Germany in 1985 and defecting to Detroit. His immigration status was aided by Ed Meese, the U.S. Attorney General. On opening night at Joe Louis Arena in October 1985, fans greeted Klima with a five-minute standing ovation. Klima was a riveting player, scoring 32 goals in his rookie year, 30 in his second year, and 37 in 1987–88. But with him there were also numerous off-ice problems: he was arrested three times for drunk driving, and Klima was drinking with Probert at the nightclub Goose Loonies in 1988, during the playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. In November 1989, Klima was part of the trade that brought Jimmy Carson to Detroit. Klima’s 223 points with the Wings ranks third in the draft class.

“We stepped outside the box and we took a skilled, skilled player, a player that our scouts assured me would be an NHL player, in Petr Klima,” Devellano said. “And he did become a very skilled player.”

Kocur’s contributions in the 1980s were pugilistic — he and Probert gave the Wings a potent tandem of enforcers. When Kocur was traded to the Rangers in March 1991 (where Neil Smith was then the general manager), Kocur had 111 points in 399 games — and 1,714 penalty minutes.

(In January 1997, the Wings brought Kocur back, signing him after he’d been playing for their alumni team and in an over-40 league. The Wings needed someone to keep opponents from taking cheap shots at their stars, and Kocur was a terrific fit. He helped them win the Stanley Cup and played until 1999.)

The 1983 draft transformed the Wings. Yzerman led the team into the playoffs in his first year, and soon he, Probert, Klima, and Kocur restored the franchise’s good name. They made the Wings a better team in the 1980s — not a Stanley Cup team, but for the most part, a playoff team. That draft class enabled the Wings to win a few playoff rounds, to sell tickets, to fill Joe Louis Arena. It took them from really bad to really competitive, from unwatchable to entertaining. The change began when Ilitch bought the team and when he hired Devellano. But it was Yzerman, Probert, Klima, and Kocur who buried the Dead Wings.

A Perfect Holiday Gift

What: “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft “

Author: Helene St. James, who has covered the Red Wings at the Detroit Free Press since 1996. Foreword by Jimmy Devellano, Wings senior vice president and former general manager.

Publisher: Triumph Books.

Pages:  350+.

Price: $19.95.

Availability: Leading bookstores and online from booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

About the book: In “On the Clock: Detroit Red Wings,” Helene St. James explores the fascinating, rollercoaster history of the Red Wings at the draft, including franchise legends like Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, and Pavel Datsyuk. Readers will go behind the scenes with top decision-makers as they evaluate, deliberate, and ultimately make the picks they hope will tip the fate of their franchise toward success. From seemingly surefire first-rounders to surprising late selections, this is a must-read for Red Wings faithful and hockey fans eager for a glimpse at how teams are built.

Get it signed! For a personalized copy,” contact St. James at hstjames@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings book excerpt: The men who buried the Dead Wings