commentary...

my honest opinion of Nicklas Lidstrom is one of total class... i have seen about six hundred Red Wings' regular season games,and about a hundred,or more,Red Wings' playoff games,since 2001,on television(and one game live),and i saw Nicklas Lidstrom make very few mistakes,on the ice,and honestly,if one on one,on defense,i can count on one hand the number of times that i saw Lidstrom get simply beat... however,i remember game five,2006 Stanley Cup playoffs,against Edmonton,that Lidstrom made a mistake that cost the Red Wings the game(puck ricocheted off his stick,over goaltender's head,into net)... he dove at puck to try to deflect it away from goal,and puck hit off the top edge of his stick,and popped up,instead of deflected off stick,over goaltender's head... no one is perfect... at that time,i was upset about the way the Red Wings were playing,not about the deflection,because they were playing soft defense around the net(and it would cost them in game six,that series,because the Oilers dive-bombed around the defense,toward the Wings' goaltender,repeatedly,in game six,on breakaways)... it was amazing to watch the game,read game stats,see that Lidstrom played 25-28 minutes a night,and regularly see that the big guns on the other team have small production,and you rarely saw,or heard Lidstrom's name(penalty,number five-hooking,or boarding-two minutes,for example)over the public announcing system,too often,and he did that night after night,for twenty years... he won seven Norris trophies(for his outstanding play),and you never heard a bad word about him,from other players,because if they even did that,they knew that they would be shut down,like most players were,against him... he played near-perfect defense,every game,every night,for twenty years,and until a bone bruise sidelined him for twelve games,late last season,he missed an average of about one game a year,over his 20 year NHL career,and over his 20 year playoff career(having never missing the playoffs),he only missed two games(against Pittsburgh,in 2009),and because of that one little fact,i believe,to this very day,that that injury,to him,cost the Red Wings the Stanley Cup,because in those critical two games,Pittsburgh lighted the Red Wings up,because "their rock",on defense was missing... by the way,the last save,of the Stanley Cup finals that year,by Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular:it was on Lidstrom,with less than two seconds to play,from about three feet away... he was total class,on and off the ice,and simply was the best defenseman that i ever saw play the game of hockey... people talk about Boston Bruins' legend Bobby Orr,and the way that he played,and do it with awe... well,number four,said of Lidstrom,in a tweet,yesterday,that,"he was a special player"... enough said...