Steve Yzerman named GM of the Lightning

Hall of Famer and lifelong Detroit Red Wing Steve Yzerman has accepted the GM position of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The organization had tried for weeks to court Yzerman to no avail. But evidently, they didn’t take no for an answer and upped the ante to the point where Yzerman just couldn’t refuse.

The deal is reportedly the highest of any current NHL GM although more details will be known at a 3pm press conference today.

Yzerman’s resume is quite spectacular both as a player as an executive. He won 3 Stanley Cups as the Red Wings Captain and 1 as vice-president of the team just two years ago. But it was his work as executive of Team Canada that caught many peoples eye. Under heavy scrutiny from a hockey-crazed Canadian media, Yzerman ushered in the gold medal for the host country at the Vancouver Olympics. After Wayne Gretzky, he is the most well-known and beloved hockey legend of his generation.

He leaves behind a Red Wings organization he has known since his youth. Since coming into the NHL at 18 years old in 1983, Yzerman has spent the last 27 years with the team. After his retirement in 2006, he was immediately given a high position in the front office. But because of current Wings GM Ken Holland’s success and tenure, it was almost an impossibility that he would move up any time soon. Thus, many teams began to try and court Yzerman away. The Lightning just happened to succeed where others failed

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