5 Good Minutes With Nick Lidstrom
By: Jeff Riger
Former Red Wing and future Hall of Famer Nick Lidstrom was at Sports Fest over the weekend and stopped to update all about retirement, his thoughts about the current team and if he is the best defenseman ever to play the game.
Below are some of the more interesting responses from Nick...
Q: How has retirement been treating you?
Nick: "It's been good so far. Enjoying retirement, being around my family a lot more, helping out with one of my kid's hockey teams, it's been fun. Being back here in Michigan again and watching the Wings play, sometimes you miss it, that's for sure."
Q: How does the defense look with without you being a part of it?
Nick: "I think it's hard to replace two top four defenseman. Both (Brad) Stuart and I had a lot of experience and it's hard to ask a young player to come in and play those kinds of minutes and have the experience to play against all the other guys in the league. It's a learning curve for the defenseman too. We added some new guys from other teams and they have to adjust to our system, to new players and a new coach and I think that takes time."
Q: What's your advice to Henrik Zetterberg about being a captain?
Nick: "Be yourself! He's been a leader for quite a few years in our locker room being an assistant captain and I think he has grown into that role and this is just another step for him to become the captain and to be a leader not only on the ice but in the locker room and be more vocal here as well. I know Hank is ready for that stuff!"
Q: What's wrong with the specialty teams?
Nick: "You're used to having the same guys out there, to know they're tendencies and know where they are going to be but when you add new players it takes time. When the power play is not working, try to break it down into the basics to get more shots and puck retrievals. I think that's the main thing. You don't want to take a shot and then have to go down and break out again all the way down in your own zone so when you are taking that shot the puck retrieval is so important."
Q: Do people still try to convince you to come back and play?
"I get that question a lot! Sometimes I miss it you know sometimes I miss being back there but I'm very happy in retirement. But, the question comes up a lot and some of them ask me if I brought my skates for this trip but I'm very happy where I'm at right now."
Listen to the entire Nick Lidstrom interview below...
