Carlos Osorio / AP

Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman wouldn't continue if he couldn't be a complete player, MSNBC.com contributor Bob Duff writes.

That’s why he could have accepted the diminished offensive returns if Yzerman truly believed he was capable of competing and delivering the goods in other aspects of the game.

“The determining factor for me was that I wasn’t going to be able to do the things I feel are necessary to play a role on the team next year,” Yzerman said.

“I knew my role over time was decreasing and I was comfortable with that. But what I don’t want to be is out there and not able to play my best or fill that role effectively, whatever that role might be.

“I just didn’t think I’d be able to play a role that I was comfortable with.”

Instead of clinging to an unearned spot that would nonetheless be his for as long as he desired, Yzerman also permits the reshaping of the Wings.

As long as he resided in the dressing room, even as a limited player, he was always going to be deferred to in terms of leadership.

Now, other players can take larger responsibilities on the team. Nicklas Lidstrom probably will assume the captaincy, while Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk can step out from behind Yzerman’s imposing shadow.

It wasn’t so much that Yzerman couldn’t get it done during the regular season that caused him to call it quits. It was the realization that he’d never be physically able to deliver the goods every other night during a playoff run.

“I wasn’t going to be able to do the things that I expect of me,” he said.

“I questioned my own ability to go out there and do it when it mattered, in the playoffs.

“I can handle any situation as far as success or failure. But at the age of 41, I still went out there thinking, ‘I’m going to be the best player on the ice tonight.’

“I’ve given up on that hope now.

“I’ve become somewhat of a part-time player. I can’t participate fully in practice. I was injured a lot. I really had some difficulty with my knee, especially at the end of the season.”

Yzerman's surgically repaired knee was left basically with bone rubbing on bone, and he was required to ingest a daily diet of painkillers just to be able to suit up and play.

“He puts great demands on himself, and he knows how hard you have to play in the playoffs in order to win,” Detroit senior vice president Jimmy Devellano said. “He realizes that his body won’t allow him to do it.”

Yzerman wasn’t going to permit himself to become a burden to the team he has given so much, his last selfless gesture as a player, the sort of act from which his legend was woven.

“He just does the right thing time in and time out, even when the right thing is very hard to do,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “Most of us go for the path of least resistance. That’s not Steve Yzerman.

“He was always about the team.”

Even in retirement.

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