Long time Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman announced his retirement Monday. Actually long time doesn't describe him adequately. He has been the Red Wings captain for 20 seasons, making him the longest serving in NHL history. He was also the youngest to be appointed captain in Red Wings franchise history at 21 years old.

His personal achievements are seemingly endless. He was drafted 4th overall in the first round and got his first goal during his first game. He played his first NHL All-Star game when he was 18 years old, the youngest in NHL history. To end his breakout year, he won the NHL's Rookie of the Year award.

He went 211 games in this incredibly physical sport before missing his first because of a broken collarbone in the 1985-86 season. The following year he became the youngest captain, succeeding Danny Gare. The 87-88 seasons was his first 50-goal season and the following year he became the first player in franchise history to score 60 goals in one season.

I would like to take a second to clarify we are talking about an "original six" team. So when I say franchise history it goes all the way back to the creation of the NHL in 1926 — 80 years.

The next season he recorded his second 60-goal season, followed by his fourth 50-goals-or-more season strait. By the 92-93 season he joined hockey legends Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio by being the only players in franchise history to reach 1000 points in their career, but his career was only half finished.

In 1996-97 he brought the cup back to Detroit for the first time in almost 50 years. They repeated this in the 1997-98 season. He also represented team Canada in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. In 2000 he became the 11th player in NHL history to score 600 goals. The following year he got his 1600th point. Also that year he won a gold metal at the Winter Olympic Games for team Canada and won the Stanley Cup for a third time, becoming one of thee people in NHL history to win both in the same year.

In his 23 seasons Steve Yzerman scored 692 goals had 1062 assists for a total of 1755 points. He did all this playing a total of 1514 games and recorded only 924 penalty minutes.

The biggest question now is who will replace these very big shoes. My guess is one of Detroit's Swedish Seven. Most likely either Nicklas Lidstrom, the big veteran defenseman who signed a two-year deal Friday after some question on him returning to the Red Wings. Another possibility is Henrik Zetterberg, a young forward very similar to Yzerman when he was that age.

Although it won't be on the ice, Steve Yzerman is going to remain in the Red Wings organization.