Stuart as Captain?

[adubs 8]

Stuart is too much of a money player.

[10 Minute Misconduct 104]

Stuart is too much of a money player.

lol? stuart could have signed for more then $3.5 mill if he wanted to test the free agent waters after he won the cup with us.

[Theophany 110]

It won't happen. As much as I love Stuart, Lidstrom will be the Captain for another few years (he's still playing on the first pair; he'll move down to the second in a year or two, then to the third) then retire when he's old like Chelios and playing for like $1m a year.

After that, Zetterberg will be captain, Datsyuk will keep his A, and someone like Franzen, Filppula, etc will get the other A.

I'd say we're still 4 years out from when we see Lidstrom retiring, barring a serious injury.

[thedisappearer 291]

I'd say we're still 4 years out from when we see Lidstrom retiring, barring a serious injury.

4 years? I can't see more than two. He ain't gonna want to play 3rd line minutes. We're lucky he may consider 2nd line, if/when that happens.

Lids will go out on top, and as such, will leave gas in the tank. I can't see him doing a Chelios.

[Theophany 110]

4 years? I can't see more than two. He ain't gonna want to play 3rd line minutes. We're lucky he may consider 2nd line, if/when that happens.

Lids will go out on top, and as such, will leave gas in the tank. I can't see him doing a Chelios.

I can easily see him doing four; he'd be fine with 3rd pair minutes. He's not a prideful guy, I think he'd play as long as he loved what he was doing.

Now if he ever got into a Chelios position (7th D man), he'd retire in a heartbeat. But as long as he sees himself as contributing positively, I can see him hanging around.

[thedisappearer 291]

I can easily see him doing four; he'd be fine with 3rd pair minutes.

While I realize we are both speculating, I'd like more evidence for this. I just can't see the greatest defenseman of his generation taking 3rd line minutes. I see him doing 1 year deals, a la Sakic, and playing 2, maybe 3 more years. Face it, Lids this year ain't equal to Lids last year, and Lids last year ain't equal to Lids two years ago. I really don't see him keeping a declining game on the ice. He is, after all, Nick Lidstrom.

[jollymania 162]

Stu would be an amazing captian, but i say it goes to Z

[Theophany 110]

While I realize we are both speculating, I'd like more evidence for this. I just can't see the greatest defenseman of his generation taking 3rd line minutes. I see him doing 1 year deals, a la Sakic, and playing 2, maybe 3 more years. Face it, Lids this year ain't equal to Lids last year, and Lids last year ain't equal to Lids two years ago. I really don't see him keeping a declining game on the ice. He is, after all, Nick Lidstrom.

My main evidence is his selflessness; he's always putting the team first. If it would help the Wings to retire, I'm sure he would after this contract is up.

Lidstrom's declining game is still better than anything we'd be able to bring up from GR, or acquire via trade of free agency. While his game may not be at first pair standards in two years, he'd still probably be a second pair defenseman, and still useful on the power play.

That's just my opinion. He's going to do what's best for the team, and for himself, as long as he stays in Detroit. Getting paid to play on the second or third pair and passing along advice to the other guys that are coming up would be a huge asset.

Kind of off-subject, but I'm hoping he'll take an assistant coaching job (with the Wings) when he retires.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Ok, first, this is not a "Oh s$#t, we need to do something" topic. This is just an honest thought that I had.

Now, when Nick retires (I see it happening soon), would it be a slap in the face of Hank or Pavel to make Brad captian? He leads by example. He is our best defensive player, and I hear he has been known to speak up in the dressing room. Do ANY of you see this happening, or am I just crazy?

crazy.

[Stiffy 0]

I respectfully disagree he deserves even an A. C is laughable, What are you guys smoking? Can I have some.

And no, nowhere in my opinion is his SCF game 7 performance a factor.

[dobbles 252]

You seem to have missed my point, which I will elaborate for you.

When Mr Illitch bought the team, he decided to foster a family environment heavy in loyalty. This means standing by the players we draft. Z, Dats and Kronner are the future letter-wears for the Wings.

while i realize this has been moved on from, i really feel there is faulty logic here. correlation does not mean causation. detroit decided to build around yzerman, it was a pretty no brained choice there. and when he was getting ready to leave, they had the best defenseman of his generation waiting in the wings to take it. they were both shoe ins for the spot. had lidstrom been drafted by the islanders and traded to the wings before his career got going, i have 100% confidence that he still would have been captain. (assuming all other things remained the same)

[Shady Ultima 40]

Kind of off-subject, but I'm hoping he'll take an assistant coaching job (with the Wings) when he retires.

I'd love to see him. Imagine him being the D-Coach, training our players to be Lids Jrs.?

[Winged_Wheeler 3]

Zetterberg is the next Captain when Lidstrom retires. Datsyuk, Franzen, and Filppula will be the assistants.

[titanium2 867]

Yeah I'm sure this board wants at the bare minimum of one captain from North America. We can't have all quiet soft spoken Euros. Apparently Cleary is a guy the teammates constantly tell to shut up so I'm sure he'll get an A, and not just for 'assistant.' He will have Draper's role.

[eva unit zero 271]

For those arguing 'captain selection logic' you should read the following.

Yzerman was named captain because he was the team's leader on the ice, as well as the fact that he was the best player and the team and one of the best in the league, and the Wings were built around his playing style and abilities; this in a way allowed him to lead by example.

Lidstrom was named captain as the team's on-ice leader, as well as the fact that he was the best player in the world and the team was built based on Lidstrom's playing style and abilities. Again, this allowed Lids to lead by example.

So we can therefore logically assume that the next captain will be the team's on-ice leader, as well as someone who leads the team by example through playing style and level of play. Based on that, Henrik Zetterberg is it. Nobody else really fits that description. Not Datsyuk, not Filppula, not Kronwall, not Stuart, not Franzen, not Hudler when he returns. Zetterberg is the clear choice.