Justin Abdelkader discusses his time as a Red Wing in ‘The Players’ Tribune’

From The Players’ Tribune:

All I ever wanted to be was a Red Wing.

As a boy, that’s what I dreamed of.

It was a dream I felt like I could reach out and touch when I was five years old and I was at the Joe Louis Arena for the very first time.

I remember the drive to the arena. The tall buildings of downtown Detroit looked like they went up into the sky forever, and the traffic went down the road the same way. There were red-and-white sweaters and hats on everybody on the sidewalks. There was just this feeling in the air. Like my family and I were going somewhere special. Like it was something that not everybody got to do. 

Walking through the concourse I must have looked like a kid on Christmas Day. I remember running up to the entrance of our section and peeking through the plastic curtains that hid the ice from the hallways — that was when I saw the Joe in all her beauty for the first time.

It was just perfect.

I knew that day that I wanted to become part of it.

And against the odds, I did.

I played on that ice for 13 years in red and white.

Now, though, my time as a Red Wing is up. But just because there won’t be a winged wheel on my jersey doesn’t mean I won’t always have a bit of Detroit in me.

It’s always going to be there, because we’re family now.

Continued