Nicklas Lidstrom

The Pursuit of Perfection

By: Niklas Lidstrom, Gunnar Nordstrom - with, Bob Duff - with

Narrated by: Barry Abrams

The life and career of Nicklas Lidstrom almost reads like a real-life hockey fairy tale. Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings as a 19-year-old defenseman out of his native Sweden, Lidstrom spent the next two decades manning the Motor City blueline. During those years he became a Hockeytown legend, amassing a mind-boggling collection of accomplishments and accolades: four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenseman, a Conn Smythe Trophy, 12 All-Star selections, and gold medals in both the Olympics and World Championships.

Off the ice, life appears equally idyllic: Lidstrom is uniformly respected and admired by opponents, observers, and teammates alike, and he and his wife of more than 20 years have four boys who split their time between Sweden and their adopted homeland.

Perhaps only one question remains unanswered about the man teammates referred to as the Perfect Human: exactly how did he do it?

In Nicklas Lidstrom: The Pursuit of Perfection, the Hall of Fame defenseman and a who's-who of hockey luminaries investigate and reveal precisely how he made dominating the game he loves appear so effortless.

©2019 Nicklas Lidstrom, Gunnar Nordstrom, and Bob Duff (P)2020 Tantor

Good book about a great player

Lidstrom was definitely a great player, and this book gives him all the credit he is due. However, there is a great deal of attention payed to how humble he is. A great deal. After awhile I found myself wishing that they would move on, which they eventually did.
There’s not a lot of behind the scenes stuff in this book. Nor is there much time given to his pre-NHL life or career. A lot of it recounts his phenomenal career and the successes and failures of the Detroit Red Wings and his Olympic appearances. Still, it’s a pretty good book if you’re interested in Nicklaus Lidstrom’s career.

great book if you love hockey and the Red Wings!

The book was great with some inside stories and Nik's mindset. If you love hockey and learning about the greats this a book for you. If you're a younger Red Wing fan it will be a great journey into the history behind the dynasty of the 90s and 2000s.
My only negative comment would be the narrator, the inflection he used for Nik's direct quotes almost sounded like a kid in Ah or wonderment. It just didn't match the story being told or the man he was representing. distracting.

Accents should be left to the professionals.

I am glad that I listened to this book. Nicklas Lidstrom is an incredible person and someone that any hockey fan should appreciate and admire. I would also recommend that young players listen to this book. Lidstrom is the kind of player that young players should model themselves after.

While I enjoyed the story, the narrator's decision to (attempt to) use accents for quotes and dialogue was a poor choice. Most of the accents in his repertoire sound like pre-teen boys from the east coast. It distracted from the story line especially in the first few chapters. But maybe that's just personal preference for not having tough guys you admire sound like they're desperately selling boy scout popcorn in Connecticut.

Struggled with narration

Being a biography, it is what it is. Had an issue with the narrator trying to change his voice for different person’s point of view.

very interesting

narrator messing up towns name over and over was annoying, that would only bother me as I live by the towns