This week began with the announcement that former Detroit Red Wings Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Fedorov would be enshrined this year in the Hockey Hall of Fame. In all the nostalgia of what Lidstrom brought to the Red Wings, fans received a hefty reminder of what left the organization when he retired in 2012. It had been a rough three seasons on the blue line since, but Detroit somehow managed to handle the departure and still make the playoffs in the three seasons since.
Though Lidstrom's retirement presented its own major difficulties, the decline of the Red WIngs' defense actually started with the surprise retirement of Brian Rafalski in the offseason of 2011.