For two decades the Red Wings were spoiled with one of the greatest defensemen of all time. He took on tough minutes and made them look easy. He made everyone around him better. Nicklas Lidstrom retired five seasons ago and the team hasn’t been nearly the same since.



After Lidstrom’s retirement, fellow Swede Niklas Kronwall became The Guy. On a pair with Jonathan Ericsson, the team initially did pretty well considering the circumstances. But the decline since that first season without Lidstrom has been dramatic, especially as injuries slowed Kronwall.



The writing has been on the wall for the Red Wings since Lidstrom’s retirement, and while there are other factors at play for the team’s decline, the most interesting one is on the backend.



Not every team employs a hard-match philosophy for their top pair against the opposition’s top lines, but Detroit always has. Mike Babcock was religious about it and Jeff Blashill has been too...