Maybe the last of my sports idols walked away from the game today. A link to a fading past I barely remember anymore. Nick Lidstrom called it a career and retired from the NHL after 20 amazing seasons in Detroit, just one year removed from winning his seventh Norris Trophy as the leagues best defenceman at the age of 41.
I don't know what the future without Lidstrom holds for the Red Wings because I don't remember what the past was like without him. There aren't many pro-athletes I look up to anymore, but this guy was one of them. Nick has just seemingly always been there, rock solid. Never flashy, never boisterous, humble and collective in his thoughts, a leader by example.
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He was there in the early 1990's when everyone in Detroit was sure the Red Wings would break their long Stanley Cup drought. In 1991, Lidstrom's first year, that drought was 36 years and it would extend to reach 42. The year before he arrived was the last time the Wings didn't make the playoffs. Twenty years in the league, twenty playoffs, six times playing for the Stanley Cup.
Lidstrom was there in 1995 when the Wings had the best record in the NHL only to lose their first chance at the Cup since 1966 to New Jersey. He was there when the Wings mastered the 'left wing lock defense, there for the start and end of the 'Russian Five' era. He was there in 1996 when the Wings again had the best record only to lose in the Western Conference Finals to Colorado, right around the time that rivalry started becoming epic, and yes Nick was there for all of the fun that rivalry gave us.
He was there when the Wings finally lifted the Cup in 1997, and then again in 1998. He was there in 2002 when the Wings were practically the NHL equivalent of 'The Dream Team' and raised their 3rd Cup in 6 seasons. He was named the Conn Smythe award winner for the MVP of the playoffs.
In 2008 Nick lifted his fourth Stanley Cup, this time with the 'C' on his chest. The first European captain to do so, an event that still probably bothers CBC announcer Don Cherry to this day.
Each year for the past 3 around June there was almost a collective 'yes' from the Red Wing masses when Lidstrom announced he would return again. As the news filtered around yesterday that this was likely the end of Lidstrom's career it was hard to know how to feel. It had to happen sometime, but that sometime was always not this time. This was real.
I admired his play the last 3 years because we share the same age. I know how I feel in the mornings and I'm not out there playing hockey at its highest level. Retirements are inevitable, and so few are done by players who could still play the game at a high level, in the only city they've ever played, where a team and players history are so linked. This fall there will be a ceremony to retire #5 to the rafters of Joe Louis Arena where it will rightfully take its place alongside Terry Sawchuck, Ted Lindsey, Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Alex Delvecchio and Steve Yzerman. Lidstrom will forever be a name linked with the great successes of Detroit Red Wings hockey and I was thrilled to have witnessed his entire career.
It's hard to exactly put into words how this feels or what it means. I'm sure like others I simply took for granted #5 would always be right there, first line, left side defense. For just under half my life, he was there. The slap-shots that found there way through, the purposeful banks off the lively boards behind the net at the Joe. Ever so slightly driving his man off the puck and away from the net. Clearing the puck out of the 'blue' to safety. That's the way its always been, right?
To me he's just always been there, being Nick Lidstrom, the best defenceman of our time, maybe of all-time and in 2013 he won't be and I will miss him.
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