Detroit Red Wings looking for a replacement defenseman after Nicklas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart exit
Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) are looking to add depth to their roster and their blue line as they lost two of their very experienced players which had held the team and were back bone of the team.
42 years old Nicklas Lidstrom had captained Detroit Red Wings in last 6 seasons of his career and won 4 Stanley Cups for Detroit Red Wings in his 20 year career for the team. He is the first European born and trained NHL to lift the Stanley Cup as a Captain.
He is also the all time leader in games played for only one team and also the most for a European born player.
He has also played more games than any of the Detroit Wings defenseman in NHL history as he played 1564 games. One of many records to his name is that he is also the oldest player and defenseman to score his hat-trick at the age of 40 years.
On the other hand, Brad Stuart who had been on the Red Wings’ blue line for last 5 years departed citing family reasons and signed with San Jose Sharks for three years, in a contract which was worth $10.8 million.
Integral part of 2007-2008 Stanley Cup winning team of Detroit, Michigan based side as he had joined mid way through the season, 32-year-old Stuart played 306 games for Red Wings over a period of five years and scored 16 goals, 62 assists and 78 points overall.
With these two power houses of the game left their side, still Red Wings have many options of Defensemen on their roster but nobody is as experienced or skillful as Lidstrom or Stuart. Best options of defensemen on their roster left are, Swedish international
Jonathan Ericsson, who is 28-year-old, Czech international Jakub Kindl, 25-year-old, Niklas Kronwall, 31-year-old from Sweden and Kyle Quincey, the 26-year-old from Canada.
There are few options for Red Wings if they want to add strength to their team as there are still few free agents left in the market. Three of the players that they should be looking to get into their team are Michal Rozsival, Brett Clark and Carlo Colaiacovo.
Brett Clark among them is the most experienced one with experience of more than 600 games played. He played for Tampa Bay Lightning last season and did not miss even a single game of regular season.
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