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As is being reported.

One of the greatest defensemen of all time. A first ballot hall of famer. A class act through and through. My first jersey and my favorite player as a kid.

I became a Wings fan in the early 90's because of Yzerman so I was fortunate enough to follow Lidstrom his whole career. For my money, the 2nd best defenseman of all-time.

I really expected him to stay one more year to play in the Winter Classic in Michigan. This should add fuel to the Suter+Parise to Detroit rumors.

One of the if not the best blueliner to ever lace em' up.

Nolan wrote:One of the if not the best blueliner to ever lace em' up.

None are better than Orr.

I think you can make an extremely strong case for Lidstrom over Orr just based off durability alone.

I'm not a hockey historian by any means, but it strikes me as pretty damn difficult to compare across such vastly different generations. I mean in 1970 Orr had over 100 assists and 139 points and was +124 (!!). That's insane. And in today's NHL that would be impossible to get because of how the game has changed.

Orr or Lidstrom is just nitpicking either way and I think we can safely say Nick is one of the two best defensemen to ever play. He was an incredible talent who played in all situations. His non-existent panic level, skill and class put him in a whole different category than just about everyone else. I expect he'll take some time to be with his kids and then get a job in the Wings front office

Incredible player and career.

I read some hockey message boards sometimes and it seems like the consensus rankings is Orr 1st, Doug Harvey 2nd, Eddie Shore as the token "playing in the 20s and 30s makes it a pain in the a** to compare him against the rest but somewhere in the top 6 spot out of respect" and then Lidstrom, Ray Bourque, and Denis Potvin as a 3 way tie. Being in the same conversation as Bourque and Potvin is certainly an ultimate accomplishment. I don't know that much about Harvey but it must mean something that he's the guy everyone puts 2nd. I didn't see him but on the surface I feel like Potvin should be 2nd. He dominated compared to defensemen in pts and retired as the pts/goals leader for them (because of Orr's lesser longevity) and has the reputation of being the most terrifying guy in the league to play if you were a forward, which seems like separates him from a Bourque or Lidstrom. Add the 4 straight Cups and getting the hockey nerds vote as the overall MVP of that run and that's a pretty insane career

WEFFPIM wrote:I think you can make an extremely strong case for Lidstrom over Orr just based off durability alone.

I think you could say Lidstrom had a better career, while Orr was the better player. He was an MVP, he was the best player in the league for a number of years and redefined what a defenseman was about.

In their primes, I think Pronger was better than Lidstrom

WEFFPIM wrote:I think you can make an extremely strong case for Lidstrom over Orr just based off durability alone.

I am The biggest Wings fan I know and there is no way I put Nik over Bobby Orr. Bobby was a once in a lifetime talent. You have guys like Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux and others saying Bobby is the best player ever. I don't think Nik did enough to be #1 all time the guy had four 30+ goal seasons and one 46 goal season which is insane.

UN-Owen wrote:In their primes, I think Pronger was better than Lidstrom

Not a chance

Classiest superstar that will ever be

In their primes, I think Lidstrom was classier than Pronger

Lidstrom classier than Pronger?

You are kidding right?

Pronger is the bottom of the garbage bag dirty while Lidstrom is the epitome of a classy player with the utmost in sportsmanship. For 3-4 years Lidstrom had some of the fewest penalty minutes of any d=men in the league.

UN-Owen wrote:In their primes, I think Pronger was better than Lidstrom

In his prime Pronger was the league MVP, making him the first D-man to win the award since Bobby Orr

And yes, Lidstrom won a Conn Smythe award

But let's not forget that Pronger was the best player and leading playoff scorer on an Oilers team that made a surprise run to the Finals

I might even take a prime Chara over Lidstrom as well


It's an interesting debate. One that can't be decided by laughing emoticons