Custance: Lidstrom subtly transformed Red Wings, position in Hall of Fame

[SimplySolace]

Figured this might be thread worthy, was a pretty good read.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/1...ransformed-detroit-red-wings-hall-fame-career

Click to read more...

 

[Ricelund]

Great read. It's awesome that the Kings still study his tape.

 

[Frk It]

Read this yesterday and thought it was also great:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/m_news.htm?id=786078

 

[InjuredChoker]

read it earlier today, good read.

rosen is supposed to have stuff on DRW 89 draft on his sunday long read.

 

[Frk It]

read it earlier today, good read.

rosen is supposed to have stuff on DRW 89 draft on his sunday long read.

There's some good stuff on that draft in the article I posted above.

Edit: This espn article makes me wanna cry. Stupid crap defense.

 

[tfong]

<3 Nick forever.

 

[Bench]

Great read. It's awesome that the Kings still study his tape.

The real question is are the Red Wings?

 

[Yemack]

Lidstrom made many great decision on ice. I also learned alot about hockey by watching him. how he deals with forecheckers especially.

It seemed like he already figured out what to do in pretty much every situation and did not hesitate to make the best play (often very simple pass) at the exact right moment. 5 guys are not enough to cover the whole offensive zone and there is always an area you can safely get the puck out. The thing is, the other team's forechecking system is designed so that you can't think straight in such short time and in a very pressured situation. Lidstrom always saw the whole picture and made an easy out before pressure got to him (or eat it if he had to). And those passes weren't just so that he could get away from the pressure, those passes often led to either very quick exit out of the zone or receiving Wings player having ample time to make good decisions getting the puck out. He always made best decision as part of 5 man unit team.

however watching tapes wont be able to duplicate what he does since making perfect plays every time kinda requires knowing what every 10 guys on ice is doing and that is pretty much impossible for any human. The key is limiting/simplifying the game so that you can see the whole picture by looking at only some of the picture. well that's my theory anyways. Obviously Lidstrom was very good at this I think this allowed him to figure out exactly how much time he had everytime. He never rushed or held on to puck too long.

As I said I learned alot by watching him and actually thought about his play/decisions from bird's eyes perspective. In turn, I developed my own theory of seeing things and that kinda allowed me to see alot on ice at the same time. Lidstrom was so great that watching him even made me a better hockey fan