Steve Yzerman belongs with the Red Wings, and we’re one step closer to that reality

Steve Yzerman is stepping down as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, so is a return to his roots with the Detroit Red Wings on the horizon?

In some of the most unexpected and shocking news in recent memory, Steve Yzerman is reportedly stepping down as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he will be moving into an advisory role for the final year of his contract. Yzerman’s assistant GM since 2010, Julien BriseBois, is expected to take over the position.

Yzerman told players of the​ decision​ Tuesday​​ afternoon after their informal skate, a source told the Athletic.

Yzerman has spent the past eight seasons as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, including five playoff appearances, a trip to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, and three consecutive Eastern Conference Final appearances in their last three playoff runs. He is considered to easily be one of, if not the best general manager in the entire league with how he turned the Lightning around from basement dweller to a Stanley Cup contender year after year.

Tampa Bay themselves has not confirmed the news yet but they have a press conference scheduled for 4 pm EST for a “major announcement” with owner Jeff Vinik, Yzerman and BriseBois all in attendance.

With Yzerman now available to be a general manager, there will be no shortage of teams around the league who will easily cut ties with whoever they have in order to bring him on board, but it sounds like there’s only one team on Yzerman’s mind.

A source told the Detroit Free Press that Yzerman told Lightning players in the meeting that he was going home to Detroit, the city where he was made a legend and still lives during the offseason.

For those who don’t know, Steve Yzerman was a Hall of Fame center and the captain of the Detroit Red Wings and brought the Stanley Cup to Hockeytown three times as a player. He retired in 2006 and immediately went into a management role.

In 2010, the plan was for Yzerman to take over as Red Wings GM for Ken Holland, but when Holland was offered a promotion away from day to day operations, he refused to budge. Yzerman then went to Tampa Bay and took over the team as general manager. You can look at the position both teams are in right now and see how that went.

For years, there have always been rumors of Steve Yzerman returning to Detroit to be a general manager, but it is important to note that the current Detroit general manager Ken Holland just signed a two year contract extension with the team this offseason.

But Detorit was already been through this exact thing in the past, and they can’t make the same mistake again. If Yzerman wants to come home right now, they would be out of their mind not to let Holland go and bring Yzerman on board to get the team back on the right track.

But that doesn’t mean that all needs to happen at this very moment. Yzerman still has a year left on his contract with the Lightning. I suspect that Yzerman plays out his contract with Tampa as an advisor, Holland steps down in Detroit next offseason, therefor clearing the path for Yzerman to take over.

With how Detroit sports, especially the Red Wings, taking a serious dip over the last few years, bringing back a local legend in Yzerman who just so happens the consensus best general manager in the league is bound to bring back interest in a team that has a bleak future on paper.

We’ll learn more about the decision from Yzerman in the press conference with the Lightning at 4 pm EST.