When a couple of rookies tried to pay for a dinner with the Red Wings, their cards showed ’declined.’
That’s when Nicklas Lidstrom stepped up and saved the day by showing exactly how a captain should act.
Nicklas Lidstrom is one of the greatest hockey players of all time, and in all of hockey history, few defensemen rank ahead of the Swede.
When The Hockey News ranked the 75 best players of all time a couple of years ago, Lidstrom was placed third by D-men, only behind Bobby Orr and Doug Harvey.
Lidstrom rarely made a mistake, and he earned the nickname ’The Perfect Human’ in Detroit because of how few bad games he had over an impressive 20-year career.
But he wasn’t just a great player; he was a leader as well. Lidstrom served as the captain of the Red Wings for several years and was often praised for how great he was leading his team, both on the ice and in the locker room.
But he was also a great person outside the rink, and this story certainly proves it.
In a Swedish podcast, Lidstrom revealed that he once saved a bunch of rookies from complete embarrassment by paying for a rookie dinner worth $40,000.
”We used to have rookie dinners, and the rookies were meant to pay those. This time, it was only two rookies, and the tab just kept getting bigger. When they were paying, their cards got declined, and they felt embarrassed. But I handed it pretty well, and took care of it,” Lidstrom said.
Lidstrom admits that he got some of the money back, but it was still amazing of him to pay for that big of an amount.
”The following years, the captains split the tab during the rookie dinners. But this time, I had to take care of it‚” he said.
For Lidstrom, it was an easy choice paying for the rookies. He saw it as his job to ensure everyone in the team felt comfortable.
”You have to step up when it doesn’t go as the rookies want. When you’re new in a team and perhaps hasn’t earned that much yet … I had to take care of it.”
