I struggle to imagine Lidstrom coming on the NYIs in the 70s and doing what Potvin did.OTOH, I have no problem seeing Potvin doing what Lidstrom did in Detroit.
i have no disagreements about this. i mean, who has ever stepped onto a bottom feeder as a rookie defenseman (a teenager, no less) and immediately was its best player and by the end of year two has already made the team a contender like that? only potvin and orr, that i know of.
i am one of those who firmly believes that lidstrom was put in the perfect position to become lidstrom. he had exactly the right rookie partner: a veteran cup champion who had previously shepherded another young defenseman, gary suter, to another level, and who as we know would later also mentor the wild, young pronger.
in year two, they add hall of famer mark howe, a fellow clean, stick-checking two-way defenseman who must have taught lidstrom a thing or two.
year three, in comes paul coffey and arguably the greatest outlet passer of all time.
year four, slava fetisov.
and then we think about the lesser known guys who came through: doug crossman and brad marsh, later bob rouse, mike ramsey, and even later larry murphy. lidstrom soaked in an awful lot of knowhow, of all different kinds, and came out the other end one of the greatest defensemen ever. he also was sheltered in the early years, and allowed to develop at his pace: having konstantinov there as a fellow young guy (as well as the much more heralded fedorov, and the much more scrutinized primeau, and others), helped keep the spotlight off him. having coffey there allowed him to find his style and game without the pressure of having to be the go-to offensive guy. having mccrimmon there at the beginning was a safety net and allowed him to develop his puck moving game without being afraid of making mistakes and getting stapled to the bench.
on the islanders, would lidstrom have become lidstrom? would he have become more of a desjardins-level player? or more of an offensive guy like murphy or zubov or timonen? hard to say.
but lidstrom became lidstrom and i don't think we can discount that just because he didn't have to come up the way potvin did. and denis potvin didn't have zero advantages; he did, after all, have the perfect coach to help him harness his incredible abilities.
i mean, not every player under the same circumstances becomes nicklas lidstrom. rob blake, for instance, came up under larry robinson; also had coffey come through; had steve duchesne to share the offensive load; also had young guys like zhitnik, sydor, and others to learn alongside; had vets like charlie huddy, mark hardy, mcsorley; but he became "just" a low rung hall of famer.
