My NHL idol: Niklas Hjalmarsson on Nicklas Lidstrom
During the NHL playoffs, we're asking some Blackhawks to tell us which player they grew up idolizing. We'll share their story on each game day.
Niklas Hjalmarsson picked fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom, the lifelong Red Wings defenseman who played in 1,564 regular-season games and won four Stanley Cups, as the player he idolized growing up.
Lidstrom racked up 264 goals and 878 assists during a 20-year career spent entirely in Detroit.
"He's not the same type of player that I am," said Hjalmarsson, who has 18 goals in 550 games. "But at least defensively I've always idolized him and the way he shut down guys when he was playing. (He always) had a good gap, never was a stick length away from his guy."
Hjalmarsson has played against Lidstrom, who retired in 2012, numerous times but hasn't "talked to him too much. I hope I get to meet him and talk to him a little bit during the World Cup because I think he's involved in that a little bit."
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be in Toronto in September.