Goodbye, Stevie Y

Sports bring out the best, and worst, of our emotions. It's one of the few things in this world that can collectively bring an entire group of people, regardless of age, popularity, and location, together in celebration, or grief.

Perhaps even rarer than that, though, is when one single person has the ability and character to inspire a city, as well as lead a team through the tough times.

Steve Yzerman is one of those people.

Words cannot describe how much he means to the city of Detroit and Red Wings fans all around the world. We've been blessed with a man who's led us through the best and worst of those emotions. As Jesse at Bingo Bango said, he's set the stage for what a leader should be. He's set the stage for what a hockey player should be. He's set the stage for what a professional athlete should be. He's set the stage for what a person should be. How often can we say that about someone?

He led us through the pre-dynasty era. The close-but-not-quite years. Even with all that, we knew we'd be okay because he was The Captain. Led us through the Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Mnatsakanov tragedy, through the Avalanche rivalry, through the 2001 playoff loss to the LA Kings, but we knew we'd be okay because we had The Captain.

The same captain who brought us three Stanley Cup championships. Who nearly single-handedly revived the franchise and turned us into Hockeytown. Who brought us 27 years of Hall of Fame skill, class, and integrity.

Which is why it's nearly impossible to look at the image above. Like @Whoabot said, it still looks so strange with that logo next to his name. And it will, for however long Yzerman is on board with teams other than the Wings.

But we owe it to Stevie Y to accept his decision. And we have. All it takes is a search for "Red Wings" on Twitter and you can see that we have. We may not like it. It's killing everyone inside. But it's not fair, considering all that he did for the franchise, to criticize him or have doubts about him for taking the Lightning GM job. (Although, for the sanity of hockey fans, it is unfortunate he beat out Pierre McGuire for the job.)

It's clear he wasn't going to get to be a general manager here in Detroit -- for a while at least, as Kenny Holland is here to stay. Apparently, Mike Illitch had asked Holland if he wanted to move up to the vice president position, but he declined, wanting to stay as general manager. We can't blame him for the decision. We knew he wanted to run his own team, and clearly that wasn't going to happen in Detroit, but that doesn't make the news any easier to take.

I think that Tampa is a good place for him to get his feet wet and take over a NHL franchise. His five-year, $2.5 million per deal allows him to try and turn a team that was 25h in the league this year into the winner it once was only six years ago. He'll take over a team that has possibly the best player no one talks about in Steven Stamkos, an anchor on the blue line in Victor Hedman, and two players that are capable of carrying a team in Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.

The Lightning are $21 million under the cap, but have only 13 players signed for a combined $40 million. It will be interesting seeing what type of team Stevie wants to build, how he handles it, and who he hires as coach. He has some options, including current Wings assistant Paul MacLean and Portland Pirates coach Kevin Dineen. Will he lure MacLean down to Florida?

All I know is this: I now have a new favorite Eastern Conference team. Sorry, Montreal.

(I also invite you to join this Facebook page I made - Steve Yzerman: Good luck in Tampa.)