Nicklas Lidstrom is back in the "D"

It was announced on Tuesday, January 11th that Nicklas Lidstrom would be taking the ice as the Detroit Red Wings’ VP of Hockey Operations beginning this year. 

Lidstrom, one of the greatest defensemen in NHL history, is no stranger to Detroit. As a former hockey defenseman, he was drafted to the Detroit Red Wings in the third round draft pick in 1989 (53rd overall) and went on to play for all 20 seasons of his ice hockey career as a  Detroit Red Wings defenseman (1991-2012) following his time as a Swedish ice hockey star who representing Sweden during the 2006 winter olympics, among many other accolades. 

(Photo by Gregory Shamus, 2011 Getty Images)

But his accolades don’t stop there - during his time with the NHL, Lidstrom helped the Red Wings win four Stanley Cup Championships (1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008), received the James Norris Memorial Trophy a record seven times, and was voted into more than ten NHL All-Star games during his career. He also managed to find time in the midst of his success to bring home multiple World Championship medals for Ice Hockey in 1991 (gold), 1994 (bronze), and 2004 (silver). In the last six years of his time playing with the Red Wings, Lidstrom was made captain of the team, where he would lead them to victory one last time before his jersey number 5 was retired in 2015. 

Following his retirement in 2012, Lidstrom and his wife took out a full page ad in the Detroit Free Press to say thank you to the city of Detroit for making their family feel at home during the 21 years they held residency there. Very shortly after retirement, their family moved home to Sweden where Lidstrom went on to work as a scout for the Red Wings in Europe. 

The Red Wings have confirmed that Lidstrom will be involved in all aspects of hockey ops for the franchise, but there is no word yet on his official start date. Either way, as tried and true Red Wings fans, we couldn’t be more excited about the “Perfect Human”’s return to the city of Detroit.

Having Lidstrom back in action and part of the “Yzerplan” is certainly cause for celebration and hopefully a sign of great things to come for the Wings - you can shop licensed Red Wings memorabilia and more here on our website and make sure your man-cave is always ready for game day. 

Welcome back to the Red Wings Mr. Lidstrom!