from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that the feeling of finality set in for Vincent Lecavalier.

He had been home in the Montreal area for the summer when he found out that the Tampa Bay Lightning -- the only NHL team Lecavalier had ever known and the team he helped put on the map both locally and nationally -- bought him out of the final seven years of his monster 11-year contract. So the impact wasn't quite as dramatic as if he'd been traded midseason or something of that nature. The Lightning sent him his equipment so he didn't have to return to the St. Pete Times Forum and confront the many memories he created there.

There was, in fact, a bit of a disconnect from the enormity of the situation.

But when he returned to his house in Tampa several weeks ago, it truly sunk in that the page had been turned both for him and the Lightning.

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