General manager Steve Yzerman’s captain put him in a bind. The face of his franchise requested a trade, and the saga was unfolding in public.But this was long before Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin’s trade request sent shock waves around the NHL last week.It was 2014, and Yzerman’s captain at the time was Martin St. Louis — a Hall of Fame player and the Montreal Canadiens’ current coach, but at the time the leading scorer for the Tampa Bay Lightning.So, as challenging as the Larkin trade request could be for Yzerman this summer, this is also not an unfamiliar situation for the Red Wings GM to navigate. He’s not one to get rattled or pushed into a corner.Back then, Yzerman executed a strong deal to resolve St. Louis’ trade request — plus another one two years later involving Jonathan Drouin.Larkin may have given Yzerman a short list of preferred destinations, including the Minnesota Wild, league sources told The Athletic. But Yzerman still has some agency in how to proceed with Larkin, who has five years left on his deal, despite his no-trade clause.“Steve Yzerman owes one thing to the Detroit Red Wings only, and (that’s) what’s best for them,” former NHL GM Craig Button said. “Dylan Larkin can’t sing and whistle at the same time. He can’t sit down and say, ‘I have a no-(trade) clause to protect me from you trading me anywhere,’ and then you coming back and saying, ‘I don’t want to play here anymore.’ You don’t get to pick.“I don’t care about the list you gave me. You said, ‘I want to be traded,’ I’ll determine where we trade you. … And if you don’t like it, you have a contract, you play.”That’s one possible tactic. Here’s what Yzerman’s history tells us about how he could handle this situation.In 2014, Martin St. Louis, by that point captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, wanted to be traded to the New York Rangers. Steve Yzerman made the best of the situation. (Mike Carlson / Getty Images)Martin St. LouisThe situationSt. Louis is one of the Lightning’s all-time greats. He was their first Hart Trophy winner and led them to their first Stanley Cup title in 2004. By the 2013-14 season, St. Louis was 38 years old, but still playing at a high level, scoring 30 goals that season.He had just been named captain in October 2013, replacing another face of the franchise in Vincent Lecavalier, who had been bought out. And the Lightning were having a good season, preparing for a playoff push.That all made the situation even more challenging for the Lightning when Yzerman — also the executive director for Team Canada — left St. Louis off of the initial Olympic team roster that winter in Sochi, Russia.St. Louis was very upset over the snub, especially coming from his own GM, and met privately with Yzerman before the February Olympics to request a trade. St. Louis had a full no-movement clause and made it clear his preferred landing spot was with the New York Rangers, with his family having an offseason home in Greenwich, Conn.The timelineSt. Louis’ request came before the February Olympics, with the NHL trade deadline rapidly approaching in early March. It was a tough scenario for the Lightning, as a lot of the young players, including Steven Stamkos, revered St. Louis.St. Louis still had one year left on his contract. So, Tampa Bay could have tried to delay the decision, but St. Louis’ feelings didn’t change even after he was added to the Olympic team as an injury replacement and won a gold medal.Yzerman executed the trade with the Rangers on Mar. 5.The resultConsidering Yzerman really had only the Rangers to deal with, he pulled off a very strong deal for Tampa Bay.The Lightning traded St. Louis to New York for Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, a first-round pick in 2015 and a conditional second-round pick in 2014. Because the Rangers reached the conference final that season, the 2014 second-round pick became a first-round pick. And since the Lightning ended up re-signing Callahan, a condition triggered that sent the Rangers a second-round pick in 2015, and Tampa Bay got an additional seventh-rounder in 2015.