It's been a foregone conclusion for a long time now that Nicklas Lidstrom's number 5 is going to hang from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena (and the new arena, whenever that's built). After deciding not to do the number retirement ceremony last season because the wounds of the lockout were still so very fresh,* the Red Wings will retire it this season but have yet to announce a date. In the spirit of trying to find material to write about during the offseason, I'll go game by game on the Red Wings' schedule (home games, obviously) and weigh the merits and pitfalls of holding the ceremony before that game.
October 10, 2013: 7:30ET vs. the Phoenix Coyotes
I should clarify that the number retirement is in Detroit, not* in Phoenix.
There's certainly a history of recent postseason success against the Coyotes that could make part of the career highlight montage. And there's the fact that Phoenix has basically become a second home for the Detroit Red Wings, so I guess you could say that one bad thing about the new divisional alignment is that Detroit will have fewer home games since they won't play in Phoenix as often.
This game is Detroit's second home game of the season, but 8 days after their home opener. Since they won't have opening night festivities to deal with like against Buffalo, they could have a night dedicated to Lidstrom AND still have the number retirement happen as soon as possible. Granted, considering Detroit goes on a brief road trip after the home opener, it won't be as soon as we'd like, but we can always complain about other scheduling issues that are bound to come up during a Winter-Olympic-break-including regular season.
The other thing I've been considering but haven't been able to find information for is if Detroit already has a schedule of promotions they plan on holding during the season (aside from the obvious Winter Classic related events and the Winter Classic itself). Might be awkward to hold Lidstrom's number retirement on the same night they do a hypothetical Pavel Datsyuk bobblehead night. (Side note: If someone can make, market, promote, and distribute Datsyuk dangle-puck dolls or make paddle balls except with Datsyuk's stick and a puck, I will love you forever.) On the other hand, it would be fitting if they held the retirement the same night as a hypothetical Swedish Heritage Night.
Should the Red Wings retire Lidstrom's number before this game? MAYBE.
*RIP Ruslan Salei
Addendum: Yzerman's number retirement ceremony was announced on August 31, 2006, and the ceremony was schedule for January 2, 2007. I'm not necessarily arguing that Lidstrom's number retirement announcement and game selection will follow a similar pattern, but it's something to go off of. At this rate, I could possibly get through about 15 games or so before we hear an official announcement for Lidstrom's ceremony date. If I could, I would use one of my Winging It in Motown BOLD Predictions to select which date the ceremony would be, but I don't think the Red Wings are going to wait that long before making an official announcement.
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