​Sixteen years ago, when Steve Yzerman decided to take the GM job in Tampa Bay, he drove to Mike Ilitch’s house to tell his employer personally. Marian Ilitch, Mike’s wife, cried. When Yzerman returned nearly a decade later to take the same job with Detroit, it was damn near a coronation.So the Red Wings were never going to fire Steve Yzerman and slam the door behind him. Come on. You would literally hear Mike Ilitch screaming from the heavens.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat’s why, when the perfect couple’s divorce was announced Wednesday morning, it was pitched as amicable, a mere shift in positions. Yzerman would move to a new valued spot, as a special advisor to owner Chris Ilitch. He might even offer thoughts on his replacement.Steve Yzerman talks to fans about the 1997-98 Stanley Cup run during a ceremony honoring that championship run Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena.Steve thanked Chris for the “privilege” of working here and said his commitment to the franchise “will never waver.”Chris thanked Steve for all he’d done and said he was grateful knowing he “will remain where he belongs – here with the Red Wings family.”Favorite sons, soft landings. This is how the Ilitchs do things for loyal employees. Ken Holland, remember, was made a “senior vice president” after losing his GM duties so that Yzerman could take over. Jimmy Devellano, to make room for Holland, was moved upstairs after his GM stint ended.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHeck, even Scotty Bowman, when he stopped coaching, was given a consultant role.It’s what you do when you don’t want hurt feelings, vindictive quotes, or a nasty goodbye mess.But the Wings have a mess just the same.Favorite sons, soft landings. Wednesday was about making the divorce palatable for the kids, the kids being us fans.But know this: Steve Yzerman is as fine a man as I’ve known in sports, and is as stubborn in his principles as he was in digging a puck out of the corners in his playing days.So if I had to guess, this stunning development was less about the Wings telling him to go than about Yzerman seeing no happy way out.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRELATED: Steve Yzerman’s 4 worst moves that doomed him as Red Wings GMThink about the timing. If the Wings were so dissatisfied with Yzerman’s job performance, why not let him go in April, after Detroit missed the playoffs for the 10th straight year, the seventh under Stevie Y? Why leave him on for the draft and free agency – only to dismiss him in the most down time of the hockey season, and just two months from the start of training camp?Doesn’t make a lot of sense. The only wild card development during that time was Dylan Larkin asking to be traded and offering a tiny list of teams to which he would go.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdmittedly, that was a doozy.If I know Yzerman, and I have known him for 40 years, that rankled him to no end. You can do many things