The Hockey News: Lidstrom best European NHL'er
Posted by George James Malik December 01, 2007 07:50AM
The Hockey News's Brian Costello says that the publication has decided to name Detroit Red Wings Captain Nicklas Lidstrom the best European-trained NHL'er--ever:
November 30, The Hockey News: The debate was interesting, but not terribly long when we were determining The Hockey News cover feature for our European issue, due to come out next week.
Nicklas Lidstrom is our cover boy, plain and simple. The best European-trained player ever in the NHL. A case was made for Jaromir Jagr, the five-time scoring champion and destined to be the top-scoring European for long time to come. Jari Kurri had a lot of support, as did Dominik Hasek. But the more we studied the facts and figures, the more it became obvious.
Senior writer Mike Brophy wrote a terrific cover story on Lidstrom for the European issue.
A quote from Detroit GM Ken Holland pretty much said it all why Lidstrom goes down as the top European ever to play in the NHL: "For the last 10 years we're near the top of the league in points, he plays almost 30 minutes a game, always against the other team's best players, he's always one of the highest-scoring defensemen, most years we're near the top of the league in power play, most years we're near the top of the league in penalty-killing and most years we're near the top of the league in goals against. He plays every critical situation. We won three Stanley Cups and five Presidents' Trophies. We've been to the final four times in the last 12 seasons and he has been the one constant."
Costello also ponders whether Lidstrom could be the second-best defenceman of all time, perhaps behind Bobby Orr but on par with Doug Harvey or Ray Bourque. Costello suggests that Lidstrom will at least surpass Bourque's brillance, despite the fact that Lidstrom won't out-score him:
Armchair fans will have fun debating whether or not Lidstrom, in the final few seasons of his career, can pass Bourque. Here's a quick tally sheet of leaders as it stands now: points (Bourque 1,579 to 888); Norris Trophies (five each); Norris runners-up (Bourque 6 to 3); first-team all-stars (Bourque 13 to 8); second-team all-stars (Bourque 6 to 0); and, Stanley Cups (Lidstrom 3 to 1). Lidstrom also won a Conn Smythe; Bourque won a Calder.
My vote goes to Lidstrom. He still has fuel in the tank to make the successful pass.
While Lidstrom says that he doesn't plan on playing as long as Chris Chelios's current 45 years of age, Lidstrom's got at least another 5 seasons left, and the longer he plays, the better.
-The Hockey News
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