Pavel Datsyuk: Hockey's silent killer
Quiet star let incomparable 200-foot game do the talking
Pavel Datsyuk's NHL clock has counted down.
The Detroit Red Wings star confided to Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom earlier this month that this likely would be his swan song in Motown. Datsyuk, who turns 38 on July 20, wants to return to his native Russia to be closer to his 13-year-old daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage.
He may or may not continue to play in Russia next season, but he plans to skate away from the $7.5 million US in salary he would be due in the final season of his contract with Detroit. He feels terrible that this will count against the Red Wings' salary cap, but his homeland has beckoned since he played for CSKA Moscow in 2012, when the NHL season didn't start on time because of a lockout.
His and his Red Wings' season ended last night after a 1-0 win by Tampa Bay that eliminated Detroit from the post-season.
Datsyuk deserves accolades for his brilliance. He will land in the Hockey Hall of Fame down the road.
The art of the steal
One of the NHL's top 200-foot players during his 14 seasons, Datsyuk dazzled in the offensive zone while remaining a top faceoff man, a deft penalty killer and a smothering shutdown forward. He read the game so well and could pinch the puck from an opponent as easily as Robin Hood stole from the rich.
Datsyuk won neither a Hart Trophy nor a scoring title, but he earned major respect from his peers. At the 2012 NHL all-star game in Ottawa, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was in charge of making the selections for his team. He asked then Bruins goalie Tim Thomas if he would be offended if Chara chose Datsyuk first and Thomas second. The goalie didn't mind because he knew how much Chara admired Datsyuk's game. Chara was not alone.
"He's a great competitor and a guy who always plays hard," Colorado Avalanche veteran Jarome Iginla said. "He's extremely skilled. He's not dirty, yet he's a fierce competitor.
"He's one of the hardest guys to knock off the puck or knock off his skates. You wouldn't know it when you see him in the dressing room. But he's strong, and with all that skill, that combination makes him one of the best players."
Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa is another admirer of his former teammate's.
"He's just one of those players who is special. He is sick defensively," Hossa said. "I think he's the best in the world at stealing the puck. To watch him is fun. Sometimes when you have the puck and he steals it from you, you just have to laugh because of how easy he made it look."
Discovered by accident
A quiet man and a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, Datsyuk would surprise his teammates occasionally with his sense of humour. Another quality his teammates and opponents admire is his humbleness.
Datsyuk's modest ways stem from his early days playing in Russia. He was considered too small at 5-foot-9, 140 pounds, but he caught the eye of Red Wings scout Hakan Andersson.
Andersson made a 1,422-kilometre trip from Moscow to scout defenceman Dmitri Kalinin and the visiting Chelyabinsk Traktor against Datsyuk and his Yekaterinburg Dynamo team. Andersson was struck by Datsyuk's effort and hockey smarts.
The Buffalo Sabres wound up taking Kalinin 18th overall in the 1998 NHL entry draft. The Red Wings waited until the sixth round (171st overall) to grab Datysuk.
He made an immediate impact for the Red Wings and won a Stanley Cup in his first NHL season in 2001-02, playing on a unit that became known as the Two Kids And An Old Goat Line (Datsyuk and Boyd Devereaux were the kids, Brett Hull the old guy).
Now, here we are. Datsyuk has played in 953 regular-season games with the Red Wings and will suit up for his 157th Stanley Cup playoff outing on Thursday. He won two Stanley Cups, four Lady Byng and three Selke trophies as well as the 2012 world championship with Russia.
Not bad for a sixth-round pick who just wants to go home.