DeMerit has been plagued with injuries since joining the Caps before their inaugural MLS season, making just 71 appearances in his four seasons. He may have been a great MLS defender, but we'll never know because he was never healthy enough to make a real impact and that was a major problem for the salary he was collecting.
None of that is DeMerit's fault of course, but it does factor into the equation and too often when he came back into the line up his weaknesses were all to apparent. For all his good defensive work in the air, it was a different story when he was having to deal with speedy players running at him. He looked too slow on too many occasions and rarely seemed to be a threat in the opposition's box.
But it was the injuries that's been the Caps killer.
The first injury came in that debut 2011 season, when DeMerit suffered a groin injury during a friendly with the US national team in March. He missed around two months and some other flare ups over the course of that season reduced him to just 21 appearances, as the Caps finished rock bottom of MLS.
At least in 2012, we got to see more of him on the pitch. A lot more. He made 31 appearances, grabbed his first and only goal for the Caps in the club's first ever MLS away win and played a full and gruelling 90 minutes in the All-Star game. The Caps suffered for that latter "highlight" with some poor play in his first game back at RSL. One of several poor games that season.
Were the Caps finally going to get their money's worth and we would all see whether he still had the skills to pay the bills?
As it turned out, no, as the injury jinx struck again and he went down to an Achilles injury just six minutes into the new 2013 season. His fightback was tremendous and the hard work he put in to be able to return to the pitch in September will be inspirational for many injured athletes. He showed a desire to not give up and want to keep playing.
But he was never really the same and you feared it was just a matter of time before he'd be injured again. I was all for trading him in the offseason to free up some salary cap and to remove that risk, but unfortunately for Vancouver, after losing Camilo, they couldn't get rid of the 'face of the franchise', especially with the celebrity status that seemed to go with DeMerit.
Instead they were stuck with a defender that was starting to show flaws and signs of the game catching up to him. He only made 11 appearances this season and for me, they will be remembered for the two penalties he gave away against San Jose and Seattle. He wouldn't have been one of my first choice starters in the position and the team haven't really missed him too much since he's been out.
The past two seasons, he didn't even play a combined number of minutes that matched that injury riddled debut season. The ankle injury against Philadelphia, that looked so innocuous at the time, being the straw that broke the camel's back.
A team like Vancouver can little afford one of their biggest earners to be constantly injured.
The Whitecaps can do better at centreback. They have already got better at centreback.
DeMerit's retiral will not only take his $247,500 guaranteed salary off the Caps' books (although not all of that this season, that figure might just be about $100,000), it allows them to bring in an experienced replacement now with an eye to him being here for three or four years.
If they choose to do so. Which you have to feel they will as I don't think you can look at the existing centrebacks in the squad and be comfortable in thinking that this is the group to take the Caps forward.
To get such a player (a Steven Caldwell or Liam Ridgewell type of character) may need DP money or they may be able to get him on a similar contract to DeMerit. The Caps only have one DP spot available and for me that is far better suited to going to an experience striker that can consistently finish.
Either way, they now have some wiggle room and cash to play with. They just need to get rid of Nigel Reo-Coker's salary now too.
The Jay DeMerit Story, that so many of us watched on DVD, is an inspiring story. It's a tale of a player who never gave up on a dream and represented his country at the highest level in a World Cup. It's a remarkable story really and one that was worth telling. It is truly sad that it has to come to an end through an injury and his body finally telling him no more. A player always wants to choose to bow out on their own terms.
But for the Whitecaps, this is an opportunity to move forward a little quicker than they may have planned for and continue that long term plan that Carl Robinson wants to put in place. It will certainly be interesting what moves they choose to make now. Jay DeMerit was never part of the future of this club. He was a part of the history, but now the Whitecaps can look ahead and build new ones of both.