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, projected to be finished in 2017). 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 12, 2013: 7:00ET vs. the Philadelphia Flyers
Wouldn't it be nice to shove highlights of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals right in the faces of Flyers fans?
Once more, with feeling.
I should get back on topic. Moreso than the first two opponents in the Sabres and in the Coyotes, Philadelphia would be a grand opponent to host the number retirement. Compared to the lack of history between the Red Wings and Sabres on the ice and despite the recent success Lidstrom and the Red Wings had against the Coyotes, Lidstrom helped end Detroit's 42-year Stanley Cup drought with a series sweep of the Flyers in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Even though it's a small sample size 7-game series, and even though that series was 16 years ago, it's still an important part of the Red Wings' modern history, especially in the context of the current run of 22 straight playoff appearances and as the kickstarter of the dynastic run between '97 and '08 and of the Red Wing Renaissance started by Steve Yzerman.
I said this about the first two games, and it'll very likely still apply through all the home games in October: this game is still early enough in the season that it looks like they're trying to get Lidstrom's number up into the rafters where it belongs, and where it should have been last season except for that pesky lockout. (Side note: I'm really tempted to start #peskylockout on Twitter.) Any game in November and beyond could still be a good candidate, but it won't have the "early season game" reason going for it that would support the assumption that the Red Wings want to get this done as soon as possible. What's that quote? "Be quick, but don't hurry." Lidstom's number retirement should be done right, of course, and the Perfect Human will get a perfect number retirement ceremony (assuming the visiting team cooperates), so it shouldn't be rushed, but there really shouldn't be any reason that doesn't involve "Lidstrom can't make it" to delay the ceremony very long into the season.
Pretty much the only reason I wouldn't want to use this game as the number retirement game is the possibility that the Red Wings would lose to Steve Mason. Any special significance attached to any game has the risk of being at least partially ruined by the home team losing, but I most certainly wouldn't want to taint the Perfect Human's record by having "Red Wings losing to Steve Mason and the Flyers on Lidstrom number retirement night" become a part of his perfect biography. Then again, there's also the narrative of most Red Wings teams over the past decade losing to teams they should beat handily.
Should the Red Wings retire Lidstrom's number before this game? MAYBE.
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