The following is an excerpt from "The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings," written by Free Press sports writer Helene St. James and published by Triumph Books. The book will be available online and in bookstores Tuesday.
Steve Yzerman was one of the most photographed men in the NHL in June 1997, when the Red Wings finally ended a 42-year drought and won the Stanley Cup, dispatching the Blues, Ducks, Avalanche, and Flyers en route. Yzerman had lost one of his front teeth two years earlier, and it had been replaced with a crown by team dentist Chet Regula.