Over 20 years with the Red Wings, Nicklas Lidstrom experienced plenty of highs, punctuated by four Stanley Cups.
And then there were the lows -- four shocking exits in the first round of the playoffs and two near misses in the finals.
Make the playoffs every single year, and brutal losses are inevitable. The one that hurt the most, Lidstrom told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket, was Game 7 to the Penguins in 2009.
"Thinking back to the losses, the early 90's we had some tough ones. But the one that stings the most is that Game 7 loss, at home in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and being so close," he said. "If you look back at the things you wish you could have done differently, that's probably one of the things that sticks out the most, to be able to at least take that game into overtime and see what could have happened."
The Wings nearly got it there, but Marc-André Fleury robbed Lidstrom in the final seconds to deny Detroit the shot at a second straight Stanley Cup.
"Fleury looked like a soccer goalie. He dove across and I think I hit him right in the chest. And actually one of my kids asked me after, 'Dad, why didn't you put that one in?'" Lidstrom recalled with a laugh. "I did all my best to try to score, but he made one heck of a save on that shot."
Lidstrom will be back in Detroit this weekend to promote the release of his book, 'The Pursuit of Perfection.' He'll have book signings Friday at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Allen Park, Saturday at noon at Meijer in Madison Heights, and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Northville.
It's been seven years since Lidstrom retired, which he said is "hard to believe."
"Doesn't feel like seven years," he said, "but it's been good. Spending a lot of time with my family. Still miss hockey every now and then, too."
Lidstrom was still one of the top defenseman in the NHL when he hung up his skates. He would have kept playing had the offseason work not become so grueling. Now 49, he laughed at the notion that he could return to the NHL if he put his mind to it.
On whether he hated the Avalanche as much as his teammates: "I think we all did, and some more than others. I don't think we had very kind words to say about one another, and I felt the same way. And I know having talked to (Peter) Forsberg when we were both done playing, they felt the same way, he felt the same way. We didn't talk before games or after games. We were treating it like a playoff game every time we played them in the regular season, so there was a lot of hatred from the players for both teams."
On how he felt about his nickname, The Perfect Human: "The two Chris's on our team, Osgood and Draper, they're behind that nickname. I don't think they were talking to a reporter at the time, but some reporter heard it in the room and all of a sudden it was out, so Drapes and Ozzie started it back in the day. ... I chuckled at the nickname when I heard it and people were bringing it up. My wife could have killed that easily, I'm sure she could have told some stories about not being perfect."
