And I honestly think Lids should have won the Norris' in 98, 99, 00, but needed to rest of the league to realize how good he was in the same way it took me years...
He's simply too good for this league that they took too long to see how good he is.
I remember Lidstrom getting some hype, but all eyes were on Fedorov in 1991 and that year Yves Racine, a dman selected in the first round in 87 also played close to a full season and put up some good numbers. Fedorov got ROY consideration, but the team was still under .500. The next year we were looking for a better team effort, but honestly the hype for the young guys was still Fedorov and then probably seeing if Primeau would step it up. Lidstrom definitely put up impressive numbers, but most people didn't recognize that he was solid despite being unspectacular. I certainly didn't. I remember being more disappointed that Racine took a step back (think he was on the first line). Chaisson and Coffey also kind of overshadowed him too being veterans and all.
Then in 1994, I remember seeing an article in SI that predicted the Wings would win the up and the subtitle of the article said Nicklas Lidstrom and the Wings will skate away with the cup... or something like that. At the time I thought it was odd that it didn't have Yzerman or even Fedorov, or possibly Coffey (he had 77 points that year to Lids' 56) as the person mentioned in the title of the article.
Long story short. I didn't figure it out on my own. Somehow I focused on young Racine probably in part because Lids doesn't do much to get your attention, something I had yet learn meant reliability. And I can say for a fact when I saw that in 94, I was a little surprised. I didn't really see the upside that people talked about.
Honestly, from 94-96 I remember thinking Konstantinov was the better D-man though Lids scored more. I thought 16 should have won the Norris in 1996. But in 1997, I think I really grew to see that Lidstrom was as good as anyone. And I honestly think Lids should have won the Norris' in 98, 99, 00, but needed to rest of the league to realize how good he was in the same way it took me years...
Nice write up.
Yves Racine. I remember thinking he was gonna be good. http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=1175,4034907
Looking at that draft, other than the fact that Sakic went a few places later, it's hard to complain about Racine.
If I remember correctly, his skating was an issue, no?
Nice write up.
Yves Racine. I remember thinking he was gonna be good. http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=1175,4034907
Looking at that draft, other than the fact that Sakic went a few places later, it's hard to complain about Racine.
If I remember correctly, his skating was an issue, no?
Racine had some good seasons, 40, 47, and 52 points. I don't really remember how he played because I was pretty young, but from the stats it looks like maybe he wasn't very good defensively. Looking at his teams' yearly stat totals it looks like he was in the bottom 3 in +- every year and even had minuses in some years when his teammates were mainly in the +30 range.
I remember Lidstrom getting some hype, but all eyes were on Fedorov in 1991 and that year Yves Racine, a dman selected in the first round in 87 also played close to a full season and put up some good numbers. Fedorov got ROY consideration, but the team was still under .500. The next year we were looking for a better team effort, but honestly the hype for the young guys was still Fedorov and then probably seeing if Primeau would step it up. Lidstrom definitely put up impressive numbers, but most people didn't recognize that he was solid despite being unspectacular. I certainly didn't. I remember being more disappointed that Racine took a step back (think he was on the first line). Chaisson and Coffey also kind of overshadowed him too being veterans and all.
Then in 1994, I remember seeing an article in SI that predicted the Wings would win the up and the subtitle of the article said Nicklas Lidstrom and the Wings will skate away with the cup... or something like that. At the time I thought it was odd that it didn't have Yzerman or even Fedorov, or possibly Coffey (he had 77 points that year to Lids' 56) as the person mentioned in the title of the article.
Long story short. I didn't figure it out on my own. Somehow I focused on young Racine probably in part because Lids doesn't do much to get your attention, something I had yet learn meant reliability. And I can say for a fact when I saw that in 94, I was a little surprised. I didn't really see the upside that people talked about.
Honestly, from 94-96 I remember thinking Konstantinov was the better D-man though Lids scored more. I thought 16 should have won the Norris in 1996. But in 1997, I think I really grew to see that Lidstrom was as good as anyone. And I honestly think Lids should have won the Norris' in 98, 99, 00, but needed to rest of the league to realize how good he was in the same way it took me years...
You thought that because Vladdy was the better defenseman during that time. Really, that is one of the reasons Lidstrom wasn't immediately noticed. When he broke into the league he was in someone else's shadow. It is difficult to stand out when you're the #2 guy on your own team. It isn't coincidental, then, that Lidstrom really started to be appreciated after Konstantinov's tragic accident. Everyone who as focused on Vladdy suddenly realized that this Lidstrom guy was extremely efficient.
Age of instant gratification. If it isn't visually appealing, people don't get it.
True. When it comes to art, good taste is not something that is immediate within the general public. It's something that we have to study and develop ourselves in order to appreciate good art in a proper way.
You have shades of greatness from here and there but imo no one has been close to what Lidstrom is these days.
You thought that because Vladdy was the better defenseman during that time. Really, that is one of the reasons Lidstrom wasn't immediately noticed. When he broke into the league he was in someone else's shadow. It is difficult to stand out when you're the #2 guy on your own team. It isn't coincidental, then, that Lidstrom really started to be appreciated after Konstantinov's tragic accident. Everyone who as focused on Vladdy suddenly realized that this Lidstrom guy was extremely efficient.
It wasn't that Vlad was better, it was that he played an in your face give up no inch balls to the wall physically punishing style of defense. He had a style that was preferred in that time, but really wasn't any more effective. He also didn't have to babysit Coffey for that particular stretch of years.
Nice write up.
Yves Racine. I remember thinking he was gonna be good. http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=1175,4034907
Looking at that draft, other than the fact that Sakic went a few places later, it's hard to complain about Racine.
If I remember correctly, his skating was an issue, no?
Thanks! I don't really remember, but I did see that +/- was an issue in the stats too. I can say that when we got rid of him, I wasn't too disappointed, meaning I'd lost faith he'd turn around. Funny you bring up Sakic, cause I'm pretty sure he was our second choice for that pick. Oh well!
It wasn't that Vlad was better, it was that he played an in your face give up no inch balls to the wall physically punishing style of defense. He had a style that was preferred in that time, but really wasn't any more effective. He also didn't have to babysit Coffey for that particular stretch of years.
I'm sticking with my position that Vlad was better. He was a disruptive, intimidating force... the perfect defensive defenseman, who had some puck skills but rarely showed them because of his dedication to playing D.
