December 2, 2005

After years of speculation, worry and rumors, there should be no doubt now.

This is the last season of Steve Yzerman's career.

The only question is whether he finishes it.

Before you drop your coffee, grab your rifle and hunt me down, hear me out. Nobody is saying Yzerman should retire. He has earned the right to keep playing, and he still has value to the Red Wings.

But that value is (at best) a 12-minute-a-night, third-line forward -- the kind of guy who often goes several games without having a major impact.

That's fine with the Wings, who don't need Yzerman to play like a star anymore.

It's fine with most fans, who don't need Yzerman to prove his worth anymore.

But is it fine with Yzerman?

Or will he look around, realize the Wings can thrive without him, and decide he doesn't need the pain and the frustration?

"If he feels that he isn't contributing enough to the team, or able to, then that's a player's decision," said longtime Wings forward Kirk Maltby. "But from what I see on a day-to-day basis, there is no reason for him to get that frustrated to where he just calls it a career."

Maybe not. But Yzerman must be frustrated. And if he were going to have a breakthrough "I'm back" game, Thursday night's showdown with Calgary should have been it. He was coming off his best game of the season, a one-goal, one-assist, two-other-near-goals performance in L.A. He had two days off between games. And center Robert Lang is out with a groin injury, freeing up ice time.

And yet, in the first period, Yzerman played only 3:59. Of the Wings' other 11 forwards, 10 played more.

He finished with 12:18, which is normal for him now -- and a five-minute drop from his last season.

This is Steve Yzerman at age 40. There is nothing wrong with it. Frankly, it's amazing he has been so productive for so long. It's a testament to his toughness (for me, the lasting memory of the 2002 Stanley Cup run will always be Yzerman limping out of Joe Louis Arena after another superlative outing).

At one point Thursday, late in the first period, Calgary's Chris Simon skated along the boards, with Yzerman at his side. Yzerman started to use his stick to slow Simon down, but he quickly pulled it back, apparently fearing a penalty.

That's the new NHL. It is a skater's league. And it isn't designed for a 40-year-old with knee problems, even if that 40-year-old is a legend.

Yzerman might return to his 2003-04 speed (some nights, it seems like he is already there), but the game is much faster now. And he can't make up for the gap with extra doses of guile and craftiness, because the new NHL isn't big on craftiness.

This is all hard to fathom -- Yzerman has been an icon in this town for so long, many adult Wings fans can't remember the team without him. And it's crazy to think of Yzerman, one of the great leaders in sports history, retiring in the middle of the season. But there was a time when it was crazy to imagine Yzerman asking to be scratched from the lineup, and last week, he did just that.

What if Yzerman feels like he has worked as hard as ever, and for once, it wasn't enough? What if he sees his ceiling, and it looks like his old floor? What if he feels like his contributions don't justify his role?

At this point in Yzerman's career, I can't imagine anybody holding a mid-season retirement against him. The very fact that it is so out of character would be explanation enough -- if the situation is tough enough to force Steve Yzerman into retirement, it must be really tough.

Yzerman is notoriously calculating in his public comments; it is one reason he has been such an effective captain for two decades. He isn't going to hint at retirement in the middle of a season.

Whenever Yzerman decides to hang up his skates, there will probably be no discussions; no talking him out of it; no public waffling. He'll just walk into Ken Holland's office (or call Mike Ilitch) and say, "I'm done."

And that day might come sooner than you think.

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or rosenberg@freepress.com.