More than 1,500 games played.

Nearly 700 goals.

Over 1,000 assists.

1,755 points.

Ten times an all-star.

Winner of the Masterton, Pearson and Selke Trophies.

1998 Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP.

Olympic gold in 2002.

Three Stanley Cups.

2009 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee.

Steve Yzerman’s accolades as a player in the National Hockey League are comparable to some of the greatest to ever play the game. Quite simply, he is, himself, one of the greatest to ever play the game.

But more than awards and statistics – more, even than Stanley Cup championships – Yzerman’s lasting legacy on the ice can be summed up in one word:

Class.

Beyond his playing career, the 20-year captain of the Detroit Red Wings continued operating in trademark fashion, adding the necessary element of humility, as he learned the ropes of the executive side of the game under some of the very tutors that helped him grow into a world class player.

After a fourth Stanley Cup as a member of Detroit’s front office staff, gold and silver medals as Team Canada’s general manager at the IIHF World Championships in 2007 and 2008, as well as Olympic gold as executive director just this year, Yzerman’s management teeth have been cut to Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s liking.

And the man whose quest for a “world class” organization has been the message from day one of his ownership tenure has now put an iconic figure at the helm of his franchise who epitomizes that very term.

World class.

To call it a flying start for Vinik would be an understatement. Procuring the services, savvy and selling power of Yzerman is as good a get as was going to come his way and the timing couldn’t be better.

The presence of Yzerman, on day one, has revived an organization at multiple levels that had seen morale crippled by the previous regime. Pride – already – has been restored at the St. Pete Times Forum.

His promise to be methodical in his actions falls right in line with Vinik’s standard operating procedures and is as far a cry from the knee-jerk reactions and varied philosophies of his predecessors.

And his name alone – that of a proven and determined leader and mentor – gives instant credibility to the franchise and a respected moniker for even the casual fan to get behind.

Of course, Tampa Bay’s on-ice results will ultimately be the bottom line by which Yzerman (and Vinik, for that matter) will be judged.

But with the kind of championship pedigree that Yzerman has behind him, there is little reason to doubt that he will do anything but succeed, as he has quite literally, everywhere else he has been as a professional.

Vinik, today, described the decision to appoint Yzerman as the man to guide the Lightning back to glory by invoking a basketball term, calling the move “a slam dunk”.

To borrow a phrase from yet another sport, by tabbing Steve Yzerman as the sixth general manager in Tampa Bay Lightning history, Mr. Vinik absolutely hit this one out of the park.

JJ

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