Nicklas Lidström

Nicklas Lidström
Position	Defence
Shoots	Left
Nickname(s)	Nick Lids Lidas Norris Nick
Height Weight	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 188 lb (85 kg)
NHL Team	Detroit Red Wings
Nationality	SWE
Born	(1970-04-28)April 28, 1970, Västerås, SWE
NHL Draft	53rd overall, 1989 Detroit Red Wings
Pro Career	1988 – present

Nicklas Erik Lidström (born April 28, 1970, in Västerås, Sweden) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman who has played his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Detroit Red Wings. In his 15-year tenure, Lidström has won three Stanley Cups, various NHL trophies and has been voted into nine NHL All-Star Games.

Representing Sweden, Lidström won the World Championships in 1991. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Lidström was a major factor in Sweden's win over Finland in the finals, earning him a spot on the Olympic All-Star Team. He also became the 17th member of the Triple Gold Club.

Playing career

Lidström is generally considered the top NHL defenseman of his era, having won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman three consecutive seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03 and again in 2005-06 and 2006-07. He has been nominated for the award a total of eight times in the past nine seasons.

As of 2007, Lidström has played all of his fifteen NHL seasons for the Detroit Red Wings. He was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams in 1996-97, 1997-98, and 2001-02.

Lidström began his career in Fagersta, Sweden, before moving on to play with his hometown team Västerås IK of the Swedish Elitserien. In three seasons with the team, he played in 103 games, scoring 12 goals and 30 assists. Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings 53rd overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, Lidström joined the team in the 1991-92 NHL season, though he would return to play for Västerås IK for a brief period during the 1994-95 NHL lockout. Lidström scored 60 points in his rookie season, finishing second to only Pavel Bure in voting for that year's Calder Trophy. He was selected to the 1992 NHL All-Rookie Team along with fellow Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov.

Known for his durability, Lidström consistently ranks amongst the top in the NHL in ice time per game. He averaged 28:07 minutes in the 2005-06 season, a career high. He won three consecutive Norris Trophies, from 2001 to 2003, becoming the first defenseman since Bobby Orr to win three straight. In the 2003-04 season, he played in his 1,000th game of his career, having missed only 17 games in 12½ seasons (1994-95 was shortened to 48 games instead of the usual 82 by a labor dispute).

Never a big and bruising defender, many experts say that the secret behind Lidström's consistent game is his ability to read the game; this, combined with his excellent skating ability, allows him to be at the correct spot of the ice at the correct time. Instead of delivering a big body check, Lidström prefers to steal the puck and create a turnover. His reliance on brains rather than brawn might explain his lack of injuries, and also his low penalty minute totals. For most of his NHL career, he has studiously avoided drawing penalties, although the introduction of many new rules in 2005-06 saw him rack up his career high (50) in penalty minutes. The 2005-06 season also brought him his career high (16 goals, 64 assists for 80 points) in points.

In the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs, Lidström was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player during the playoffs, becoming the first-ever European awarded the trophy.

Lidström was set to make $10 million during the 2005-06 season, but because of the new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement created in July 2006, salaries on pre-existing contracts were reduced by 24%, which lowered his compensation to $7.6 million.

On March 7, 2006, against the Phoenix Coyotes, he assisted on Pavel Datsyuk's goal to become the 68th NHL player, and 14th defenseman, to record 600 assists.

On 30 June 2006, it was announced that Lidström had signed a two-year, $15.2-million contract with the Red Wings; instead of seeking more money elsewhere—certainly possible for a defenseman of his calibre, especially considering his stellar numbers in the past season—Lidström decided to remain with Detroit for the same annual salary as he earned during the 2005-06 season.

Lidström became an alternate captain of the Red Wings from the 1997-1998 season, and was awarded the captaincy after the 2006 retirement of long-time Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman.

On June 14, 2007, Nicklas Lidström joined an elite group by capturing the Norris Trophy as the League's outstanding defenseman for the fifth time. Lidström becomes the fourth defenseman in League history with as many as five Norris Trophy wins, joining Hockey Hall of Fame members Bobby Orr (eight), Doug Harvey (seven), and Ray Bourque (five).

On October 8, 2007, in the game against Edmonton Oilers, Lidström became the second-highest scoring Swedish-born NHL player when he set up the Red Wings' first goal, moving past Peter Forsberg.

Awards

• Gold medal at the 1991 World Championship.
• Named to the NHL All-Rookie Team in 1992.
• Stanley Cup winner with Detroit Red Wings in 1997, 1998 and 2002.
• Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007.
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.
• Awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.
• Awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2002.
• Olympic gold medal with Sweden in 2006.
• Selected on the Olympic All-Star Team in 2006.
• Current captain of the Detroit Red Wings beginning in the 2006-2007 season.

Records

• First European player in NHL awarded the Norris Trophy (2000-01).
• First European player in NHL awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (2001-02).
• Fourth defenseman in NHL to win James Norris Memorial Trophy three consecutive times (2001-2003).
• Detroit Red Wings' franchise record for points in a season for a defenseman, 2005-06 (80).
• NHL's 68th player (14th defenseman) with 600 career assist (2006).

Career statistics

				Regular season							Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
1988-89	Västerås IK	SEL		20	0	2	2	-	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
1989-90	Västerås IK	SEL		39	8	8	16	-	14		2	0	1	1	-	2
1990-91	Västerås IK	SEL		38	4	19	23	-	2		4	0	0	0	-	4
1991-92	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	11	49	60	36	22		11	1	2	3	-5	0
1992-93	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		84	7	34	41	7	28		7	1	0	1	-2	0
1993-94	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		84	10	46	56	43	26		7	3	2	5	4	0
1994-95	Västerås IK	SEL		13	2	10	12	-	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
1994-95	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		43	10	16	26	15	6		18	4	12	16	4	8
1995-96	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		81	17	50	67	29	20		19	5	9	14	2	10
1996-97	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		79	15	42	57	11	30		20	2	6	8	12	2
1997-98	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	17	42	59	22	18		22	6	13	19	12	8
1998-99	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		81	14	43	57	14	14		10	2	9	11	0	4
1999-00	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		81	20	53	73	19	18		9	2	4	6	-6	4
2000-01	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		82	15	56	71	9	18		6	1	7	8	1	0
2001-02	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		78	9	50	59	13	20		23	5	11	16	6	2
2002-03	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		82	18	44	62	40	38		4	0	2	2	-1	0
2003-04	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		81	10	28	38	19	18		12	2	5	7	4	4
2005-06	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	16	64	80	21	50		6	1	1	2	-4	2
2006-07	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	13	49	62	40	46		18	4	14	18	0	6
SEL totals				110	14	39	53	-	32		6	0	1	1	-	6
NHL totals				1176	202	666	868	338	372		192	39	97	136	27	50

External links

• Nicklas Lidström's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Lidstrom's profile at eurohockey.net - includes international and junior stats
• Detroit Red Wings: Nicklas Lidström

Preceded by Patrick Roy	Conn Smythe Trophy Winner 2002	Succeeded by Jean-Sébastien Giguère
Preceded by Chris Pronger	Norris Trophy Winner 2001, 2002, 2003	Succeeded by Scott Niedermayer
Preceded by Scott Niedermayer	Norris Trophy Winner 2006, 2007	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Steve Yzerman	Detroit Red Wings captains 2006 – present	Incumbent