Say it ain't so, Niklas

**rb336** · May-30-12, 04:34 PM

Are you retiring Mr. Lidstrom?

the BEST defensive player in the history of the game. yeah, yeah "Bobby Orr." NO. Orr's legend is built on his offensive abilities as a defenseman

**Wingnatic** · May-30-12, 05:04 PM

Our Swedish scout has been quoted in the media in Sweden that he will retire

**thnk2mch** · May-31-12, 12:50 PM

And retire he will. You got to know it's the right decision if Nick made it.

**smogboy** · May-31-12, 01:23 PM

He was and always will be the epitome of class in Detroit sports. An era has passed now. His influence on this team is immeasurable. He did things on the ice so simply smoothly and elegantly. He brought home more hardware and just did this area proud. We've truly been blessed to have watched him as much as we have.

**kenp** · May-31-12, 01:29 PM

He was so effortless you often didnt notice him out on the ice.
Notice how we started really playing poorly in the middle of the season when he was hurt. He still made a huge differance when he played and he was a big reason we made the playoff every year of his career.
Good luck to him

**Downriviera** · May-31-12, 10:29 PM

Its true, he was so good we often didn't notice him out there. But now we'll really notice that he's not there. Homer is next I think. Who will screen the goalies and get all the ugly goals? This is going to be the most interesting off season in a long time. Could are consecutive playoff record be in jeopardy?

**jefferson78** · June-01-12, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

Its true, he was so good we often didn't notice him out there. But now we'll really notice that he's not there. Homer is next I think. Who will screen the goalies and get all the ugly goals? This is going to be the most interesting off season in a long time. Could are consecutive playoff record be in jeopardy?

Not if we can get Suter or even possibly Parisi of New Jersey. The streak will continue, guaranteed.

**Thruster315** · June-01-12, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by jefferson78

Not if we can get Suter or even possibly Parisi of New Jersey. The streak will continue, guaranteed.

We'll assume you meant Zach Parise.

Now that Nicklas [[unlike the "Niklas" of this thread title) Lidstrom has skated off into the sunset, maybe the "loyal" fans can stop calling into the radio talk shows and stop calling him Nicklas Lint-strom or Lindt-strom. I know Wojo makes fun of it all the time and it was nearly shameful at the press conference yesterday that they still had to re-iterate how to pronounce his name again to the press.

You'd think that after all of these years of playing the caliber of hockey that he has, winning all of those awards, and just being the poster boy of all that's right with sports- you'd think that the local folks here would know how to pronounce the poor man's last name. Seriously it's only eight letters! We've only heard Bruce Martyn, Ken Kal, Mickey Redmond, Paul Woods, and every other local sportscaster pronounce it properly for 20+ years.

And is it any tougher than Yzerman? Anyone remember the early years of WHY-zerman??

Enough of my rant already. Nicklas Lidstrom's calm presence will be missed. He's still better than 80% of the defenders in the league at this age. I can't wait to see his number hoisted up to the rafters and we can also be assured that he's a first ballot Hall of Famer in a few years too.