ESPN's Pierre LeBrun announced on Twitter at about 9:30 this morning that the Red Wings have announced they will be holding a media conference call with general manager Ken Holland and team captain Nicklas Lidstrom to take place at 11AM.  Here's LeBrun's tweet:

Red Wings announce 11 a.m. ET media conference call with Lidstrom and Holland.

The hockey analyst followed that up with another tweet that I agree with and which would seem to gel well with the kind of news that George Malik has been reporting about Lidstrom's likelihood of returning to Detroit next season:

Just a guess on my part, but I would think if he were retiring it would have been a formal news conference for a guy of his stature.

Indeed, a media conference call is significantly less pomp-and-circumstance than Lidstrom's retirement would demand.  Of course, Lidstrom has always been an unassuming and downright humble guy, so I don't want to say that anything is a done deal, but I am hopeful that this announcement will be that Lidstrom has spoken with the club and decided that he will be back for his 20th NHL season.  We will update this post as news becomes available.

UPDATE:

It's a done deal!  The Red Wings website is reporting that The Perfect Human will be back for his 20th season.

BREAKING NEWS: Nick Lidstrom will return for the 2011-12 season. More from DetroitRedWings.com - http://bit.ly/mI8duF

Update #2:

From Pierre LeBrun's Twitter again:

Lidstrom's one-year deal for next season will be worth $6.2 million _ same salary as this past season

Update #3:

The Red Wings have posted full audio of the teleconference on their site.  Click here to head to their site and listen.