The Best Player Ever?

He’s no Maurice Richard, he’s no Wayne Gretzky, he’s no Mario Lemieux, he’s no Bobby Orr and he’s no Sidney Crosby, but could he be the greatest player of all time? In wake of Nicklas Lidstrom’s 2 year contract extension which should keep him in “Hockey Town USA” through the 2009-10 season, I’ll take a look at several reasons why the native of Västerås, Sweden should at least be considered as one the greatest players in the history of the National Hockey League.

During his illustrious 15-year tenure, Lidstrom has won three Stanley Cups, countless NHL awards and has been voted into the NHL All-Star game a whopping nine times. Lidstrom has won the Norris Trophy (awarded to the league’s top defenseman) 5 times, and was the first European born player to bring home the hardware. In addition, Lidstrom was the first European born player in the NHL to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (awarded to the playoff MVP), which he did in the 2001-2002 season. The list of Lidstrom’s accomplishments goes on and on and in all honesty, I could probably write a two-page essay simply listing all the awards he has won and all the records he holds to date however; that is not the purpose of this blog posting.

Lidstrom will never get the same recognition as the before mentioned superstars because he plays a simple and controlled game, rather than a flashy and exhilarating style of play like the Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin’s of today. Lidstrom doesn’t throw the colossal bone-crushing body checks; he doesn’t make the end to end rushes ala. Bobby Orr and he doesn’t have the Al MacInnis-esque 100 MPH slap shot, and I guess that’s a big part of the reason why he is never mentioned with the all-time greats. However, the fact of the matter is that Lidstrom doesn’t need to make the big flashy plays because he does everything else right which rarely leaves him out of position.

Lidstrom’s prowess, so to speak, is his ability to read the ice. Wayne Gretzky was said to see the play happen in his mind before it actually happened, which is a large part of the reason why he was one of the best set-up men of all time. The same can be said for Lidstrom. It appears as though he continually knows what the opposing forwards are going to attempt and consequently breaks up the plays with ease.

With his fresh two-year contract extension, the current Red Wings’ captain is slated to make approximately $15 million over the next two seasons. Inflated salaries have been a big issue of concern in the National Hockey League before and even following the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, however; $15 million for two seasons sounds like a bargain for the best player in the history of the game.