Niklas Lidstrom Returning To Captain Red Wings Another Season



After another disappointing second round exit from the playoffs this past May, the Detroit Red Wings developed a laundry list of priorities that needed to be taken care of by general manager Ken Holland before the puck drops on the 2011-12 campaign. None of those tasks, however, were more important than learning of their captain's decision on whether to return for his 20th season in the NHL and with the team.

Detroit found out Monday that Lidstrom, 41, will give it at least one more go. He will do so on a one year deal at a pricetag of $6.2 million, according to The Associated Press.

Lidstrom is coming off another tremendous campaign in which he posted a league ranked second best among defenseman of 62 points while playing a full 82-game schedule. Lidstrom's 32 helpers on the power play ranked No. 1 among his position. Contribution like that are reasons why the Red Wings are thrilled to have him back. It's also why he is up for the James Norris Memorial Trophy on Wednesday for the 11th time over the past 13 years.

Lidstrom's decision was motivated by both his ability to still play at a high level and to help remove the bitter taste of departing the playoffs in the second round for the second straight season. Whatever the reason, however, Holland is just thrilled to have him back.

"I don't even want to think about the Detroit Red Wings without Nick Lidstrom," he said.

Already without Brian Rafalski due to his retirement following Detroit's elimination, losing Lidstrom would have created another huge void among an NHL defesensive corps that would have seen Niklas Kronwall and Brad Staurt carry the load in front of goaltender Jimmy Howard. Now, Holland only needs to immediately concerns himself with using the $6 million left by Rafalski's retirement to acquire just one big name asset. He does not need to panic at the moment about having to replace two key cogs.

But despite his reluctancy to envision a team without Lidstrom, it will happen at some point. And Holland should be thinking forward about what the team will be like without the franchise's best defenseman. For a team constantly saying it needs to get younger but not entirely following that credo, perhaps planning a course of action for when Lidstrom does finally decide to hang them up might not be the worst idea.

For now, though, Holland can rest a little easier and look forward to the draft and free agency - and decide whether 39-year old Jaromir Jagr is that young stud forward they desire to fill a top six spot alongside Pavel Datsyuk next year.