The Detroit Red Wings have named Nicklas Lidstrom as their next Vice President of Hockey Operations. The Hall of Fame defenseman spent all 20 years of his NHL career in the Motor City and will reportedly be involved with all aspects of the hockey ops department moving forward.
“One thing I do know, after being around and playing with him for such a long time, he knows the game, he knows hockey players and for all of us in the organization to be able to pick his brain, to ask his opinion, and get his viewpoint on whatever it is we’re doing, it’s a tremendous resource for us,” said GM Steve Yzerman on the hire.
According to reports, Lidstrom will remain based out of his home in Sweden, and will focus primarily on player evaluation on the Red Wings, other NHL teams, in the AHL, Europe, and other amateur levels. The four time Stanley Cup champion has long been considered to be one of the brightest hockey minds around and will lend his expertise to speed up the Detroit rebuild.
Lidstrom joins a hockey ops team that boasts several former NHLers and Red Wings mainstays. Daniel Cleary, Shawn Horcoff, and fellow Swede Niklas Kronwall have existing roles with the organization and are familiar with Lidstrom both on and off the ice.
The former Detroit captain re-joins the team at a pivotal moment in their rebuild. The Red Wings haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2015-16 but have made huge strides in recent years. After bottoming out in 2019-20, Detroit has seen steady improvement under the watch of Yzerman.
Detroit currently sits 4pts out of the final wildcard spot with a 16-16-4 record. The team does however boast a 12-5-2 record on home ice as they attempt to bring playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time since it opened in 2017.