Thanks for Twenty Great Years

With the same grace and quiet dignity displayed in his game for twenty years, Nicklas Lidstrom announced his retirement today, bringing down the curtain on what could have been the greatest positional hockey player in history.  As Adam Proteau of The Hockey News wrote, "Lidstrom was the ultimate low maintenance, high performance superstar.  Not even blindly devotional fans of other teams could accuse him of whining to the officials or underhanded play.  In fact when you look at his penalty numbers over the years--including a two year span from 1999-2001 when he combined 36 penalty minutes (and 144 points) in 163 games--you see a calm and focused superstar in complete control every time he jumped over the boards."

Not too often we can watch a master in his craft.  Thanks for the Stanley Cups and the classy leadership.