Fifteen years ago, a young Detroit Red Wings defenseman was putting up numbers that won him statistical comparisons to Wayne Gretzky.

It wasn't Nicklas Lidstrom.

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In 1997, Vladimir Konstantinov finished second in Norris Trophy voting with a plus-38 rating. A year before, he finished plus-60, a preposterous stat that hadn't been topped since Gretzky was a plus-70 nearly a decade earlier. The future of the Detroit blue line rested not so much on Lidstrom's relatively narrow shoulders, but on the wicked elbows of Konstantinov.

The recent retirement of Lidstrom – Konstantinov's last active teammate – warrants a mention of No. 16, which is a number that has not been worn by a Red Wings player since a limousine accident took the career and nearly the life of "Vlad The Impaler" 15 years ago Wednesday. It is easy to look back at the appropriately labeled "perfect" career of Lidstrom, but it's hard not to wonder how perfect Konstantinov's career would have been had he never got into that car after a post-Stanley Cup party.

"His beautiful life and his beautiful career are not the same," said his wife, Irina, reached by phone Tuesday. "Everything else fades compared to that."

For those who never watched him play, Konstantinov was a rare blend of skill and toughness. He was the Russian who wouldn't back down from anyone; in fact, he was the Russian who regularly threatened. He punished people, but not in a way that undermined his team. He could enforce with his body, his stickhandling, and his mind. Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber called him "the nastiest blueliner in the NHL."

While Lidstrom has been a given on the Detroit defense for all these years, the Wings have strived for the better part of a generation to find a replacement for Konstantinov, who survived for weeks in a coma after the 1997 accident but never regained full mobility or mental faculties. There was Jiri Fischer, who met a tragic but safe end to his career when doctors discovered a heart ailment. There was Chris Chelios, a two-way terror in his heyday but who arrived in Detroit as a (somewhat) mellowed 36-year-old. There's Niklas Kronwall today, a dangerous bodychecker and capable point-producer. All have been vital as Red Wings, but none had quite the spark of Konstantinov.

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