Testing NHL players was an inexact science back in the early 1980s, a time when prospects and veterans still "played themselves into shape" during training camp. In 1983-84, the new head coach of the Detroit Red Wings was Nick Polano, today a pro scout for the Ottawa Senators. It was the summer before his first season and Polano was checking in with his trainer, Jim Pengelly, for the results of the precamp physical tests. Pengelly was big on strength training, but had more of a background in soccer than hockey.

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Only five players in NHL history have accumulated more points that Steve Yzerman's 1,755.

Photograph by : Getty Images

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As Polano told the story years later for Bob Duff's book 19: A Salute to Steve Yzerman, Pengelly walked into Polano's office and raved about the team's big, strong guys - grinders like Joey Kocur and Stu Grimson. And then he added:

"You've got one really skinny guy down there, you'll have to send him home.

"He can't weight." "What's his name?" Polano asked. "Steve Why-zerman," Pengelly said, to which Polano responded:

"No, that's Yzerman and if he can't play, I'm in big trouble as the coach."

The skinny kid could play, all right. Right from the drop of the puck in 1983, when the 160-pounder, wet towel included, opened his rookie NHL season with a goal and an assist against the old Winnipeg Jets.

Yzerman, adopted as Nepean's own son after moving here from British Columbia in his boyhood, played himself into the Hockey Hall of Fame as one of the game's all-time greats. A humble superstar.

On Monday, Yzerman, 44, will be inducted into the Hall along with fellow players Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and builder Lou Lamoriello. None of the group is more Hall-worthy than Yzerman, sixth all-time among NHL scoring leaders with 1,755 points in 22 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, including five seasons with 50 or more goals.

During his unprecedented 20-year reign as captain, Stevie Y led the Wings to three Stanley Cup championships. He won a fourth in a management role with the Wings

For that final taste of glory as a player in 2002, Yzerman carried his team on one good leg, just a few months after playing through excruciating pain to help Canada to its first Olympic gold medal in men's hockey in 50 years - both feats a testament to his will, courage and pain tolerance.

These war stories will be told and retold in Toronto over the next few days, which for Yzerman might represent a short respite from his work as executive director of Canada's 2010 Olympic men's hockey team.

In his other day job, Yzerman is vice-president of the Red Wings and a key member of Detroit's stellar management triumvirate, alongside GM Ken Holland and assistant GM Jim Nill.

From the moment he retired as a player in 2006, Yzerman gave no indication he'd be content resting his weary limbs and playing leisurely rounds of golf. His passion for hockey kept him in hockey, a GM-intraining, inside perhaps the best-run organization in the game.

Even as we pause to salute Steve Yzerman's brilliant playing career, Yzerman is off and running as a suit: the player capable of performing on one leg is onto the next leg of his hockey odyssey. Stevie Y, NHL general manager? And why not?

"He's going to be a great NHL general manager if and when he wants to be," Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson said in an interview last week.

Unlike some elite hockey players, Brett Hull being the obvious example from the disastrous Dallas Stars experiment, Yzerman didn't expect to be handed a top management position until he learned from the ground up.

As a player, Yzerman was the superstar who toiled like the third-liners, a philosophy he's carried into his off-ice career.

"He's not afraid to work," says Doug Armstrong, director of player personnel for Canada's 2010 hockey management team. Armstrong was the Dallas Stars' GM from 2002-08 and is now VP of player personnel for the St. Louis Blues.

"Steve's been to Grand Rapids (Detroit's AHL farm team)," Armstrong says. "See him at world championships and now the Olympics, he's out watching games, he does a lot of video scouting. So, he's rolling up his sleeves. He doesn't give the impression that it's a God-given right to manage.

"He's doing the proper work to get into the position that, if he decides he wants to manage, he'll be prepared."

Potential draft picks, trade options and free-agent signings, Yzerman has been involved with the Red Wings inner business for more than three years.

Armstrong first worked with Yzerman as an adviser at the 2007 world championship, where Yzerman was Team Canada's GM. Their roles carried over to the '08 championship in Halifax and Quebec. This past spring Armstrong was GM of Canada's worlds team in Switzerland while Yzerman focused on his Olympian task of formulating a roster for Vancouver in February. He kept in constant contact with Armstrong and flew to Switzerland to see Canada's important tournament games.

Those who work closely with Yzerman describe his management style as patient, inclusive, but firm. He doesn't get paralysed from information overload. And Yzerman knows in his mind what kind of team he wants to build - for Canada in February, and, soon enough, within the NHL salary cap system.

"He's very thorough, he likes everybody's opinion, but it's not a consensus where everyone gets a vote. And I appreciate that," Armstrong says.

"At the end of the day, he understands that he's the manager and he has to make the difficult calls. He does try to solicit as much information as he can, and asks astute questions on the players, but at the end of the day, his name is at the top of the list. He has to make those calls and he's certainly not afraid to do that."

Holland, Yzerman's "boss" in Detroit, is an associate personnel director, along with Edmonton's Kevin Lowe, for the Canadian effort in Vancouver.

"It's role reversal," Holland says. "I'm the manager of the Red Wings. Steve will voice his opinion and Jimmy Nill and (head coach) Mike Babcock, but ultimately there has to be one decision-maker.

"In Detroit, that's me. With Hockey Canada, it's Steve."

Holland, who has had the best run in hockey as Detroit's GM since July 1997 (three Cups, four Presidents' Trophies, nine Central Division titles), believes the Red Wings model hasn't missed a beat because everyone involved has been willing to check his ego at the door.

"That's one of the things Steve did so well when he was a part of the on-ice team," Holland says.

Holland terms the hockey operations group - Holland, Nill, Yzerman and capologist Ryan Martin - a "think tank." It's an embarrassment of riches, just as the Wings have often been on the ice. According to Holland, he has two staffers qualified to be GMs - Nill and Yzerman.

"Ultimately, there comes a time in everyone's career when a decision has to be made because people are looking for bigger challenges and bigger responsibilities and a bigger title," Holland says. "But for now everyone's bought into the team and

Holland and Nill both have one more year on their Red Wings contracts after this season. Yzerman's deal is a little open-ended. When the Olympics and Stanley Cup playoffs are over, the timing could be perfect for Yzerman to take on a new challenge.

"In the right situation, it's something I would consider," Yzerman said on a media conference call this week. "I've been with the organization here in Detroit my entire career, as you know. I really enjoyed being a part of the management, working with our management group, being in the organization. It's important to me.

"But that's a goal I've always had (being a GM). It's something that I would have to consider. For me, when I'm asked that, the decision ultimately will be - am I content in the role I'm at here or do I want a challenge of going somewhere?

"That's a decision I'll have to make at some point," Yzerman said. "I'll get through this year with the Olympics and we'll worry about it later on. Right now, it's not really on my mind."

Hockey Canada isn't in any hurry for Yzerman to get his first NHL GM job. It works out well, Yzerman having a loosely defined role in Detroit, enabling him to focus on the Olympic project this season.

"Anybody that gets Steve Yzerman, that organization would benefit," Nicholson says. "But as he's done everything in his career, he's going to do it on his time, and the situation he thinks is right for him and his family."