DETROIT  Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom continues to draw raves as the NHL's best defenseman at 40 because he's not playing the same game as everyone else.

"It's like in racquetball when there's a young guy chasing the ball while the experienced guy stands in the middle and waits for the ball to come to him," says Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini. "That's how Lidstrom plays hockey."

In a league where teenagers are becoming more commonplace, Swedish-born Lidstrom is the NHL's third-oldest player and by all accounts performing like he's in the prime of his career.

He was named to his 12th All-Star Game and picked as one of the captains who will choose up sides Friday for Sunday's game in Raleigh, N.C. The four-time Stanley Cup winner has won six Norris trophies as the league's top defenseman, and if the season ended today he probably would win a seventh. He even scored his first hat trick — especially rare for a defenseman — in December.

Lidstrom's Norris Trophy count trails Bobby Orr's (eight from 1967-68 to 1974-75) and the late Doug Harvey's (seven from 1954-55 to 1961-62).

"In chess, they say you need to think three or four moves ahead," says NHL vice president Brendan Shanahan, who was Lidstrom's teammate from 1996 to 2006. "Nick would think eight or 10 moves ahead."

John Davidson, St. Louis Blues president and former NBC analyst, calls Lidstrom "a hockey genius" based on what he saw on a trip to Detroit to do a feature on the complexities of Lidstrom's game. Davidson realized Lidstrom's anticipation, decision-making and vision for the game were more refined than others'.

"He thinks two or three seconds faster than everyone else," Shanahan says.

Shanahan recalls Red Wings players made it a game in practice to try to make a pass over Lidstrom's stick.

"It was a joke, really, because he would bat everything out of the air and then give you that little smile," Shanahan says.

No one keeps pucks in the offensive zone better than Lidstrom. No one passes the puck out of the defensive zone with his precision. In one-on-one defensive situations, no one seems quite as effective as Lidstrom at tying up his opponent without drawing a penalty. Never a physical player, Lidstrom has 478 penalty minutes in nearly two decades of NHL employment — all with the Red Wings.

"He pretty much dictates everything on the ice just by how he thinks and where he is," Blues defenseman Erik Johnson says.

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman says the organization showed Duncan Keith video of Lidstrom to help him improve. Last season, Keith won the Norris Trophy and helped the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup title.

"Lidstrom is so efficient," Bowman says. "He just does exactly what he is supposed to do."

Proud of heritage

Lidstrom has had a monumental run considering he came to the NHL as a third-round pick who had no idea how long he would stay in North America.

"I didn't have any real game plan, but my backup plan was that if it didn't work out I would play in Sweden," Lidstrom says. "I thought I would play a couple or three years here and go back."

Now he has lived in the Detroit suburbs almost as long as in Sweden. His sons, Kevin, 16, Adam, 14, Samuel, 10, and Lucas, 7, have lived in the USA their entire lives.

When Lidstrom was named Detroit's first European captain in 2006, Henrik Zetterberg— one of five other Swedes on the team — joked Lidstrom was more American than Swedish.

But Lidstrom is a proud Swede. He spends offseasons in Vasteras, about an hour from Stockholm. In Michigan, his children attended a Swedish school part time to ensure they could speak and write Swedish fluently. He and wife Annika wanted their children to appreciate Swedish culture.

"Unless we have friends over, we talk Swedish in the house all the time," Lidstrom says.

Annika says about the only time she talks to her children in English is if she is helping them with homework.

"But there are some English words here and there that we throw in because it's harder to explain to them in Swedish," Annika says.

The Lidstroms felt so strongly about providing their children with a Swedish upbringing that in 1999 Lidstrom considered going back to Sweden to play, even though he would be leaving millions of dollars behind. He makes $6.2 million this season on a one-year deal, and he couldn't make one-tenth of that in Sweden.

"My oldest boy was about to go to school, and my wife and I weren't really sure what to do," Lidstrom says.

Finally, they spoke to a Swedish couple who had lived in Michigan. They said their kids adjusted well when they moved back.

"Coming to Michigan really wasn't difficult," Annika says, "because we were so young … and everything was so exciting."

Lidstrom says his children are more American than Swedish, but his oldest son persuaded his parents to let him play in a Swedish hockey academy this fall.

"It kind of surprised us that he had such strong feelings for Sweden," Annika says.

Kevin Lidstrom saw only one downside to being in Sweden.

"He just got his driver's license here, but it's 18 over in Sweden so he has to take his bike to practice and school," Lidstrom says.

The Lidstroms have told their children the family will move back to Sweden when Lidstrom's career is over. But the Lidstroms will struggle to leave Michigan because it now feels like home.

"I'm kind of dreading that day," Annika says. "It will be very difficult, because this has been our home for so many years and we have so many friends."

Going strong

The good news is the Lidstroms don't have to worry about that now. There is a sense around the Red Wings that Lidstrom might play until his mid-40s.

Detroit general manager Ken Holland says people asked him if Lidstrom lost a step last season, when the Red Wings struggled.

"I didn't see it," he says. "We didn't have enough weapons up front (because of injuries), and I thought Nick kept us afloat."

Lidstrom says he plans to take his career a season at a time, but Holland says, "I would sign him right now for two years."

Lidstrom says he trains the same way he did 10 years ago. "I don't feel 40," he says. "I feel the same way I felt five years ago."

Staying healthy and avoiding serious injuries also have contributed to Lidstrom's longevity.

"I'm not an overly physical player," he says. "I try to play my position the right way. I train in the offseason. I eat healthy, not a lot of burgers and pizza."

Considering he has traditionally been better in the second half, he's on a pace for one of his best seasons. He has 11 goals and 42 points in 48 games.

"He's the best two-way defenseman in the world," Holland says. "No one has better hand-eye coordination to knock down pucks. No one has more patience with the puck. He plays the game in his head at another level."