Don’t count on a Lidstrom retirement this year

As we approach the inevitable end to the season for the Detroit Red Wings, questions about the future of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom are going to keep coming up. Detroit GM Ken Holland has gone on record as saying that the team will do everything possible to retain their prized veteran free agents, and it’s tough to think of a scenario where Holmstrom and Lidstrom play for another team.

Yet with Lidstrom just a few days over 40, there’s a chance that he could consider retirement. Talking to Drew Sharp of the the Detroit Free Press, Lidstrom says he’s not going to waffle about the decision either:

“I’m pretty sure that I won’t look back and wonder if I could have done something differently,” Lidstrom said. “I’m sure the biggest challenge is accepting in your mind and your heart that you’re at that point where you were used to playing at a certain level and expecting certain things out of yourself that you can’t do anymore.”

While I doubt the time for Lidstrom’s eventual retirement is coming this summer, he also said that he can’t see him staying to the point where he’s playing as anything other than a top pair defenseman. Lidstrom has been so good for so long, it’s understandable that such a classy and humble player would prefer to go out when he’s still on top of his game.

While he’s certainly lost a bit of a step, he’s still one hell of a defenseman. He’s still one of the top defensemen in the NHL and there are some that think he should have been considered for the Norris Trophy. Again.

Lidstrom most likely won’t be retiring this summer, he’s still too good. But becoming a Chris Chelios type player, just playing out his final days just because there’s still a will but not necessarily the skill? That’s not going to happen.