...if I make a decision halfway through the year or if I decide to wait until next summer, we’ll have to wait and see.

Well, that’s a surprising statement. I thought all of his previous comments on the subject pretty clearly stated that he had every intention of playing at least one more season. It would be nice to have the $7.5M in cap space, but it would be a huge loss in terms of skill and leadership.

Say it ain’t so, Nick. Say it ain’t so.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 09/04/09 at 01:44 PM ET

Not only skill and leadership, but the hole it would leave on the blueline 5on5, powerplay, and pk. This is true leadership, he’s given the Red Wings the foresight to be prepared for anything that might happen halfway through the season.

Posted by Nathan from BC by way of Pittsburgh by way of Sasktchewan on 09/04/09 at 02:13 PM ET

Oh no, could it be the beginning of the end?

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 09/04/09 at 02:20 PM ET

beginning of the end was mid june 2009...this would be the end.

Posted by Sam on 09/04/09 at 02:29 PM ET

Maybe his thinking is being tempered by the idiotic direction the NHLPA now appears to be taking.

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 09/04/09 at 03:45 PM ET

beginning of the end was mid june 2009...this would be the end.

Hilarious. If Nick does quit next summer, the Wings will have at least $5M of his former salary that they can devote to signing a top-four defenseman. Add that person to Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericsson and (probably) Kindl and the Wings will still have one of the top defense corps in hockey.

And no team emphasizes team play more than the Wings so his leadership role will flow smoothly to the likes of Zetterberg, Datsyuk and (maybe someday) Kronwall. It’s what happened when Stevie Y retired. It’s what will happen when Nick retires.

As I said, his retiring would be a huge loss in terms of skill and leadership, but it certainly won’t dramatically affect the future success of the Wings. Sorry Pens fans. That isn’t going to happen. The Wings and Pens will still be beating each others brains out in the Finals for years to come.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 09/04/09 at 04:57 PM ET

This is a situation where there really can’t be a bad ending for the Wings. If Lidstrom resigns, they keep one of, if not the best defenseman ever in their lineup. If he retires, they get a lot of much needed cap space.

Posted by Kstewy16 on 09/04/09 at 06:03 PM ET

OTC - i dont usually agree with anything you write to be honest, but that was well said.

Posted by Greg on 09/04/09 at 07:05 PM ET

We’re agreeing with each other now? When did this start and why didn’t I get the memo?

There are only two reasons King Lidas would retire. 1) He has lost his passion for the game (highly unlikely at this point) or

2) Family reasons (the man nearly stopped playing in the NHL years ago––before the KHL made if fashionable––because he wanted his kids to grow up in Sweden)

The problem with having sincere and noble human beings play for your team is that you can’t fuching critique their decisions.

And yea, Lidas’ new mentoring project, Jonathan Ericsson, is coming along quite nicely. Leadership or defense transition won’t be an issue.

Posted by Osrt on 09/05/09 at 12:50 AM ET