Editor's note: This column originally was published April 8, 2012.

You will never figure him out.

Everybody around the Red Wings says that about Nicklas Lidstrom. Tell them you want to get inside the mind of Lidstrom -- to understand his genius, to see what he sees. They laugh or shake their heads.

"It's impossible to know how he can think that good," coach Mike Babcock said.

Impossible?

"He's Picasso," general manager Ken Holland said. "They think differently. It's a gift."

OK, fine. Let's just observe. Sit in the stands. Watch Lidstrom. Come back and watch again, and again and again, and ... well, admit it: You see nothing. You know you are watching one of the best players in hockey history. But he looks like just another good player to you.

It's not your fault. Lidstrom doesn't do anything spectacular. He just does everything right. He makes the right pass. He reads the play properly. He knows what opponents will do before they do, and he stops them from doing it.

But the closer you stand to genius, the easier it is to see. Often, in the middle of games, the Red Wings elbow each other in disbelief: Did you see what Nick just did? He will slide along the blue line and knock down a puck, or he'll be surrounded by three players and he will pass the puck off the wall and it will ricochet directly to the tape on a teammate's stick.

"There are so many times, you're on the bench, you just look at each other and go, 'Wow,' " fellow defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "He's sort of the dad playing with kids. He makes it look so simple out there."

Here is the original post:

Michael Rosenberg flashback: Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom is ahead of the game