Welcome to LWOS Hockey’s summer series, Call to the Hall, where we take a look at the next great player from each NHL franchise to get called to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are a few caveats, the player must be active, and must have played 300 games (or 150 for goaltenders) with the franchise.
Check out the previous Call to the Hall articles HERE.
Call to the Hall: Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings are ready to add to their historic list of Hall of Famers next season, as legends Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom will be inducted in their first years of eligibility. Looking at the current roster as it stands, there are two names that stick out as potential candidates for future years: Captain Henrik Zetterberg and the ever-magical Pavel Datsyuk. The Russian came up a year earlier than the Swede but both found instant chemistry in the ’02-03 season playing with legends such as Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, and the aforementioned duo. Datsyuk(37) will be two years older than Zetterberg(35) when October 9th rolls around, but both have been still kicking despite some injuries along the way as the new wave of Red Wing forwards come up behind them. It can go either way as both will likely be in the conversation when it’s all said and done, but as of now, the Magic Man would be the prime candidate on the Red Wing roster, given his hardware and consistency.
Pavel Datsyuk
Drafted in the 6th (6TH) round in the 1998 Draft, Datsyuk would go on to play two more seasons in Russia before coming stateside to dazzle Hockeytown with what many in the league weren’t ready for. Datsyuk couldn’t have picked a better year to come over in 2001-02, as the Wings loaded up a team built for a Cup chase with nine eventual Hall of Famers on the roster. Then 23, Datsyuk, mostly playing on the line dubbed “two kids and a goat” with Hull and Boyd Devereaux, scored 11 goals and 35 points, good for 7th among team scorers. He would add three more goals in the postseason, winning his first Stanley Cup and making a great impression in his first season donning the Winged Wheel. ESPN commentator Gary Thorne made a great point when the rookie lifted the Cup for the first time: “I think he may do this again.”
The next two seasons as 21-year old Henrik Zetterberg broke on to the Red Wing roster, Datsyuk increased his production to 51 points in ’02-03 and 68 points in ’03-04, scoring 30 goals for the first time that season as the league started to pay attention to the next terrifying tandem in the NHL. The lockout was a huge year for Datsyuk and the Red Wings, as rumors started to swirl that he would stay in Russia playing for Moscow Dynamo or Avangard. Eventually, the Red Wings got a deal done for two years to keep the Sverdlovsk native in Hockeytown for the time being at a total value of $7.9 million. The cap crunch didn’t seem to bother the 27-year old or the team, as Datsyuk continued to elevate his game to another level coming into his prime, potting 28 goals and 87 points, leading the 58-win Red Wings for the first time in scoring.
After another “Datsyukian”-type season the following year(27G-60A-87P), Pavel revved it up for the playoffs making a big impact for the first time in his career, scoring eight goals and 16 points in 18 games. The Western Conference Finals is as far as the Wings would get, but they made an extra push in ’07-08 behind their dynamic duo. Datsyuk had his best season as a Red Wing so far in his career, scoring 31 goals and 97 points, while in the process winning the Lady Byng(62 PIMs in three years) for the third straight year and his first of multiple Selke Awards. He would add ten goals and 23 points in the postseason, finishing four points behind his “Euro-twin” who eventually won the Conn Smythe as the Wings beat the Penguins to win a fourth Cup in 11 years, the first for Zetterberg and 2nd for Datsyuk(good call, Mr. Thorne).
Datsyuk would pot a career high 32 goals the next season scoring 97 points again, but his playoffs were marred by injuries as he scored just one goal and tallied eight assists in 16 games out of a possible 23. This seemed to foreshadow the injury troubles Datsyuk would run into the next few years, as the Wings would come up a game short in 2009 for their second straight Stanley Cup.
From 2009-15, the now-37 year old in the midst of change from the powerhouse type Detroit Red Wing teams that he began his career on, Datsyuk has enjoyed consistent success amid some injuries. Over 361 out of a possible 458 games, he’s scored 127 goals and potted 347 points, including three 20+ goal seasons and three 60+ point seasons while averaging a 57.8 Corsi For% and 56.9 Fenwick For% in that span. Datsyuk is coming off of his best season since ’09-10, scoring 26 goals and 65 points in just 63 games.
Nearing the end of the three-year extension he signed in the 2013 season, Datsyuk will be with the Wings for this season and next, and will likely culminate his Red Wing career the same season as the curtain closing on the Joe in 2016-17. To say the least, the tenure has been magical. Eight 20+ goal seasons with three that saw 30+, eight 60+ point seasons with two that saw 80+ and two that saw 90+. 298 goals, 869 points, three Selke trophies, four Lady Byng trophies, and two Stanley Cups. With a couple more seasons, it’s not unrealistic to see Datsyuk hit 1000 points either.
That would just be yet another reason to put the gifted 37-year old Red Wing icon in the Hall where he will soon belong.
Main Photo:
Stats courtesy of hockeydb, hockey reference
Contract terms courtesy of spotrac and kommersant.com
