Gone but never forgotten...

The Lightning placed what is considered by most Tampa fans as "the Heart & Soul of the Lightning" on waivers yesterday... meaning the 42 year old veterans career is seemingly over.


Gary Shelton of The St. Petersburg Times put it best...

There should have been banners.
There should have been bells.
On the day the captain left the ship, there should have been videos dancing on the scoreboard, a greatest hits compilation of the greatest leader in franchise history.
The crowd should have made a little noise on its way to saying goodbye.
There should have been tributes.
There should have been tears.
Old teammates should have been there, telling all the old stories, reliving all the old scars.
Someone should have presented him with a golden hockey stick. Then the team should have retired his jersey, attached cables to it and hauled it toward the ceiling to hang alongside the Stanley Cup banner.
There should have been applause.
There should have been appreciation.
Then someone should have brought out the Stanley Cup from behind a curtain, all over again, and Dave Andreychuk should have lifted it toward the heavens, repeating that image burned into your memory bank. Andreychuk should have turned and skated around the ice, one more time, as his emotions washed across him.

There should have been gratitude.

There should have been goodbyes...