Lidstrom, 39, is in the last year of his contract. Although general manager Ken Holland and Mike Babcock have made it clear they want and expect him to return next season, Lidstrom said he wouldn’t make any decision about his future until after the season.
“It’s more a matter of looking forward to the playoffs,” he said. “When you’ve been in so many playoff years and rounds, you just look forward to it. The intensity picks up, the fans get into it, it’s a lot of fun.”
He still logs big minutes, plays great shutdown defense and scores a nice amount of points. The one point in favor of retirement is if Lidstrom himself is bothered even by the slightest slippage. One of the saddest things in sports is seeing a once-great player devolve into a shell of himself. I don’t think there’s much of a risk of that, but you never know.
Then again, if Lidstrom were to take a generous pay cut (say, a $5 million cap hit instead of his current $7.45 million), the Red Wings would have about $12 million to spend on improving their depth. By coming back for another year, Lidstrom could experience another season on a dominant Detroit team. Plus, there’s ... you know, the money.