Nicklas Lidstrom To Retire Today

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom will announce his retirement after 20 NHL seasons at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Lidstrom is one of the best defenseman that has ever lived. 7 times he was voted the NHL top defenseman, and 3 times he was the runner up. That means half the time he was in the NHL he was either the best or 2nd best defenseman in the NHL, that's pretty amazing.

Lidstrom never missed more then 11 games in a season. Even in his last season (actually the year he missed 11 games) Lidstrom had 34 points and a plus-21 that ranked among the league leaders.

This 12 times All-Star, 4 time Stanley Cup winner, 7 time Norris Trophy winner, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Gold Medal winning is a no doubt Hall of Famer, and even though I have never liked the Red Wings he will be missed.

Kevin Garnett Retiring

Yesterday on WEEI, Jackie Macmullan interviewed and said that she thinks that this is Kevin Garnett's last year playing and she expects him to retire after the season.

It seems crazy at this time because Kevin Garnett has been nothing short of amazing this season and playoffs. KG in the playoffs has averaged 20 points, 11 boards and shooting a blistering .55%. He is playing at a max contract level, and it would be crazy if this is it. She goes on and says that last year, people had no idea how much Kevin Garnett was hurt last year, and that it wouldn't surprise her if he's in pain even this year.

To me, obviously, I would love for the Celtics to win it this year and KG to ride off into the sunset. But if he was to come back, I don't think he will be cheap. I also think with the lack of free agents out there the Celtics should take the Papi approach and just give him a 1 year, 20 million dollar contract until he retires. I would hate to see him playing in any other uniform than a Celtics uniform.

However, this will all go away if the Celtics go out and win a championship, so they should go out and do that.

Brian Dawkins Retires

Veteran safety Brian Dawkins announced his retirement from football on his verified Twitter account on Monday.

"The Lord has blessed me to play in the NFL for 16 years. I would like to thank the Eagles & the Broncos 4 believing In me. I would like 2 thank all my teammates & Coaches that I have been blessed 2 go to battle with. Along with u, the fans 4 helping make my career 1 that i have enjoyed tremendously. In other words. I am announcing my retirement from the NFL. #BBTB," said the post linked from Dawkins' Twitter page (ESPN)."

I always really liked Dawkins, his badass blacked out visor, and the way he just destroyed people. I always felt that the Eagles defense was never the same after he left. It's too bad Dawkins never got a Super Bowl, but he still had a hell off a career.

Dawkins played 16 seasons in the NFL, and made the Pro Bowl 8 times. Dawkins leaves the game with 37 career interceptions and 1,131 tackles, including 26 sacks. He was actually playing pretty well last year, but then had a serious neck injury in December and missed the rest of the season.

It will be interesting to see if Dawkins will make the Hall of Fame. There are only 7 pure safeties that have made it and the last one was Ronnie Lott in 2000. Lott, was a much better player, so it's tough to compare. The other thing that hurts Dawkins is that he isn't the best player for his era at safety, that would have to go to Ed Reed.

I think Dawkins is borderline, but if it was up to me I would put him in.

Parcells Not Coming Back To NFL

According to a report from Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Bill Parcells will not serve as interim coach for the New Orleans Saints in 2012.

As we all know by now Payton has talked to Parcells about taking over coaching duties while he serves his 1 year suspension. At first I didn't believe it at all, then it really seemed like Bill was interested, but I guess I should've stayed with my first thought. The Saints will now look inside their own franchise to get through this mess. Rumor is Joe Vitt will take over, but he has to first serve his 6 game suspension.

You have to wonder why Parcells ended up turning it down, or did he? I could be the Saints decided it was a bad idea. Another reason could be it would've delayed Pacells entrance into the Hall of Fame, and that could've been on his mind.