DETROIT \u2014 Nicklas Lidstrom retired Thursday after 20 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings<\/strong>, ending one of the best careers in NHL history.<\/p>\n The four-time Stanley Cup champion and seven-time Norris Trophy winner as the league\u2019s best defenceman fought back tears as he made the announcement.<\/p>\n \u201cMy drive and motivation are not where they to need to be to play at this level,\u201d -Nicklas Lidstrom<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The 42-year-old Swede set an NHL record by playing 1,564 games with a single team. He had put retirement on hold in each of the previous two years by signing one-year contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been dreading this day since I became manager in 1997,\u201d Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said.<\/p>\n Lidstrom had 34 points and a plus-21 rating that ranked among the league leaders last season. He had 264 career goals with 1,142 points and a 450-plus rating. After being incredibly durable for 19 seasons, he missed a career-high 11 games with a bruised right ankle and was out for another game with the flu.<\/p>\n \u201cThat didn\u2019t sway me one way or another,\u201d Lidstrom said. \u201cA couple weeks after the season is over, you start working out. Once I started doing that I didn\u2019t have the push I need and I can\u2019t cheat myself.\u201d<\/p>\n He plans to move his family to Sweden and hopes to have an off-ice role with the Red Wings.<\/p>\n \u201cRetiring today allows me to walk away with pride, rather than have the game walk away from me,\u201d said Lidstrom, whose oldest of four sons went to Sweden two years ago to attend school and play hockey.<\/p>\n Lidstrom was named the NHL\u2019s best defenceman last year for a seventh time, matching Doug Harvey\u2019s total and trailing Bobby Orr\u2019s record by one. When Lidstrom won his final Norris Trophy last summer, he was a finalist for the 11th time in 13 seasons.<\/p>\n Defenceman Brad Stuart, who was his teammate the past four-plus seasons, said he was amazed at Lidstrom\u2019s ability to make the right play on almost every shift game after game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve played with great players who made mistakes, but I can\u2019t think of one game when I thought, \u2018Nick just didn\u2019t have it tonight,\u201d\u2018 Stuart said during this year\u2019s one-series post-season. \u201cHe\u2019s that same, steady, amazing defenceman every night. I think I\u2019ve seen him out of breath maybe three or four times in a few years because he\u2019s so smart, he gets himself in the right position to make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n The four-time Olympian also scored the gold-medal winning goal for Sweden over Finland in 2006. He became the first European-born captain to win a Stanley Cup in 2008, six years after being the first from Europe to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could say it\u2019s a sad day for hockey. But maybe it\u2019s a little bit expected,\u201d said fellow Swede and New Jersey backup goalie Johan Hedberg.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s probably one of the, if not the best, Swedish player to ever play the game is retiring. He\u2019s been a great role model for every Swede growing up, myself included. \u2026 If there\u2019s anyone that people should want to model themselves after, it would be him.\u201d<\/p>\n Devils defenceman Henrik Tallinder said Lidstrom had long been a Swedish icon.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, two decades is a long time playing in the best league in the world. The things he has accomplished are remarkable. In my eyes, he\u2019s the best Swedish player we\u2019ve had over here. No offence to Forsberg and Sundin. Just with four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies, that says it all, I think. \u2026 I mean, who doesn\u2019t look up to him? He\u2019s an icon. Everybody wants to be like him, play like him. Offensively, defensively, you name it, he does it all.\u201d -Henrik Tallinder<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Lidstrom\u2019s six-foot-two, 190-pound body is chiseled thanks to a year-round workout that includes exercise before practice and after games along with a sensible diet that includes only occasional slices of pizza and fast food. Lidstrom\u2019s teammates call him \u201cThe Perfect Human,\u201d in part because he\u2019s as humble as he is successful on the ice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most emotional days in Red Wings history with Nick retiring and all you people showing your respect for such a high-quality individual,\u201d Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch said at a packed news conference that included a slew of team employees wearing Lidstrom\u2019s No. 5 red jersey with a winged wheel.<\/p>\n Author:<\/strong> The Associated Press Nicklas Lidstrom Announces Retirement After 20 NHL Seasons DETROIT \u2014 Nicklas Lidstrom retired Thursday after 20 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, ending one of the best careers in NHL history. The four-time Stanley Cup champion and seven-time Norris Trophy winner as the league\u2019s best defenceman fought back tears as he made the announcement. \u201cMy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":754,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6,7,8,9,43,17],"tags":[20,38,219,220],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empower-network","category-friends-and-family","category-funny-video","category-health-and-fitness","category-inner-circle-audios","category-internet-marketing","category-movies-and-tv","category-sports","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl","tag-nicklas-lidstrom","tag-nicklas-lidstrom-retires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Nicklas Lidstrom Announces Retirement \u2013 Future Plans<\/h2>\n
Nicklas Lidstrom Announces Retirement \u2013 Receives Praise From Teammates and Opposing Players<\/h3>\n
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\nSource: www.tsn.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"