Is Datsyuk a one of a kind?

[Kira 451]

On a side note, I was just reading the article about Datsyuk on NHL.com and I didn't know both his parents passed away quite young. I want to just give him a big hug.....

If you really want to read a beautiful story on Pasha, Mitch Albom wrote an absolute gem...first time I read it I broke down and cried. Still get a lump in my throat when I read it.

www.freep.com/article/20090416/COL01/904160395

[drfnr14 0]

Melrose said you can't tell how hurt he is because his skating wasn't that good to begin with. oh the things that come out of that mullet.

i was shocked/disappointed the mullett would say such a thing!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[EuroTwin 240]

I just can't but think that Datsyuk is just a one of a kind player. I cannot think of anyone who ever played the game the way he does... Well Igor Larionov was kinda similar, but not nearly the same caliber. Datsyuk's puck possession, puck handling and decision making is just amazing. I serioulsy think he's the funnest player in the NHL to watch, because he comes up with new stuff everytime he plays the game... and his ability to humiliate super stars. I am so glad to witness this era of hockey, because Datsyuk takes the NHL to a much higher level of skill.

It's just so amazing how the Detroit Red Wings can draft such players like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom and Franzen (not to mention Flip, hudler, Kronwall and crew)

Is Datsyuk a one of a kind?

Pavel is a joy to watch. Literally, he makes me sit up straighter every time he's on the ice. He's just so good and so unexpected and it's like he has seven sets of eyes swiviling constantly around his head so he can see everything. The blind drop pass to one of our guys in the first period last game? I just about died. I knew I had missed him when he was gone, but damn. I didn't realize how much I had missed him.

If you really want to read a beautiful story on Pasha, Mitch Albom wrote an absolute gem...first time I read it I broke down and cried. Still get a lump in my throat when I read it.

www.freep.com/article/20090416/COL01/904160395

It's coming up as 'not found' for me. I've been searching for that article for a couple days now, I want to share it with some of my Red Wings friends on LJ. Do you know if it might be anywhere else?

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Overcoming the odds nothing new for Datsyuk

Great read.

That's so sad about his parents, losing both of them.

What an inspiration. Love the last line of the article, so true.

[dawings1905 2]

Stickhandling I don't know if I agree with. Deking, maybe. But Fedorov in his prime was virtually impossible to strip of the puck, and rarely turned it over. Datsyuk has sick dekes, but he is probably easier to strip of the puck than Feds was. So it really depends if your definition of stickhandling is "ability to deke" or "ability to keep the puck" and Fedorov was definitely better at the latter.

As far as the skating play, I was simply guessing at which play was being referred to, as that play sounded like what he was describing.

My statement about Fedorov possibly being the most dominant all-around player was simply conjecture; the league will improve in its talent, especially in terms of all-around players, but what I was saying is that it's unlikely we'll ever again see a player who is so dominant over his peers in so many aspects of the game as Fedorov was.

We will just have to agree to disagree then (and BTW Feds was one of my all time favs), but I am not just talking dekes. That is why they have given the nickname "dangle" to Dats. He dangles with the puck, and no one can seem to get it from him. The reason Feds was so difficult to get the puck from was his speed (Not the only reason, but def helped) he was so dangerously fast that they gave him soooooo much room to operate most of the time. Whereas Dats is not a speed demon and can wheel and deal through 2 and 3 guys. Sometimes he will even lose the puck for a second and get it right back (much of the time in fact) I just think Dats is a better stickhandler than Feds. That's my opinion, and I would even bet most analysts would agree. Feds is a great player, and I am not taking anything away from him, but make no mistake his skating ability was the biggest thing that set him apart from almost everyone. The guy had a top gear that nearly no one could match, and he got there as quick as anyone. When you have that type of weapon, defenses tend to back off. The things Dats does with the puck is magic however. The guy does things that other players won't even attempt.

[travis08 3]

Pavel is a joy to watch. Literally, he makes me sit up straighter every time he's on the ice. He's just so good and so unexpected and it's like he has seven sets of eyes swiviling constantly around his head so he can see everything. The blind drop pass to one of our guys in the first period last game? I just about died. I knew I had missed him when he was gone, but damn. I didn't realize how much I had missed him.

It's coming up as 'not found' for me. I've been searching for that article for a couple days now, I want to share it with some of my Red Wings friends on LJ. Do you know if it might be anywhere else?

google cache of it HERE!

[mru22 1]

Not a medical doc exclaimer.

Pretty sure Cortisone can take care of the temporary injuries that require reduction in swelling as well as a pain killer.

The sad thing is half of america is too busy watching the boring NBA finals with Kobe and Joe's v.s. the Orlando "anything but Magic"

There are more superstars in these finals than in the NBA or MLB right now if you ask me. Those sports are on the downhill. Last years NBA finals had a great matchup but this years with the Lebrond cavaliers underachieving there is no one to counter Kobe.

From a not so informed spectator I'm very impressed with players on both sides. Pavel is definitely an underrated player.

[EuroTwin 240]

google cache of it HERE!

Thank you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Thank you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much.

I can only read the first page?

[hockeysattva 8]

Fedorov in his prime was one of a kind. Datsyuk is very good...but not THAT good.

In his prime, Fedorov was among the best goal scorers and playmakers in the league, while being the league's best defensive forward, the league's best skater, and having one of the hardest and most accurate slapshots. He didn't fight often, but he did play a physical game and was IMPOSSIBLE to knock off the puck. His stickhandling was the best I have seen in my entire life. He was capable of playing any position as well as anyone in the league at that position, including defense. It's something I have never seen or heard of before, and will likely never see again.

Datsyuk is great, and by the end of his career will likely by a HOFer, but Fedorov in his prime was possibly the best, and most dominant, all-around player the NHL will ever see.

Datsyuk had definitely been a regular season performer, and a playoff leader the last two years, but IMO he was most remarkable as a rookie. I remember the first time I saw him pass to himself off the back of the net. He just was a skill player that seemed to come from nowhere. I love his ability, but I got to say I agree that its a far stretch comparing him with Feds.

[EuroTwin 240]

I can only read the first page?

Same here, BUT, oddly, if you highlight the first page of text and copy it, and then paste it... it shows the full article.

Here's the article anyhow:

Hockey players are rarely loud. But even by the NHL's humble/mumble standards, Pavel Datsyuk has, for years, been silent.

Like most Red Wings watchers, I noticed the guy the minute he showed up. You couldn't help it. From his first season -- 2001-02 -- his quickness, the way he handled a puck, the way he flew between defenders as if they had their ankles chained together. How could you miss it? His passing was almost too good. His shots were like a cymbal crash. His defense improved to pickpocket status.

The All-Star selections? The Selke Trophy? Leading the NHL in takeaways? In all these facts, I knew Pavel Datsyuk. And in every other way, I didn't.

"No clue" is what I'd say when people asked me what he was like. Who had a clue? The most you ever got out of Datsyuk in a locker room were a few mumbles, a few clichés in a heavy accent and a smirk. After a while, many reporters didn't bother with him -- even though he often was the Wings' best player -- because how often can you hear: "We play good, I play good"?

But I had this theory. Every man is deeper than his sound bite. If Datsyuk ever sat down, relaxed, away from the rink, and spoke in Russian, I figured, he'd be a whole different story.

This week, I finally got to witness that, with the help of a Russian-speaking business associate of Datsyuk's named Dan Milstein. The three of us met at Bacco Ristorante in Southfield. Milstein translated. Sitting at a table, sipping a glass of water, Datsyuk shifted easily between his native tongue and his improved English.

And after a few hours, I knew more about this guy than I'd learned in eight years.

For one thing, he's funny. In either language. And he's got a philosophical side, often quoting old Russian expressions. Also -- and this struck me -- he was an orphan in his 20s; neither his father nor mother ever got to see him play in the United States, a fact that almost brings him to tears.

He is an anomaly in many ways, a fast player who likes to move slowly in real life, a 30-year-old man with a haircut from "Leave It To Beaver," an NHL star who in some ways is still reaching his potential.

After a 3-hour interview, he asks, "Please don't make me look like an ugly duckling who gets to be a swan." But then he quickly adds, "No, whatever you think, write it."

He is humble yet sarcastic, proud but shy. I liked him quite a bit after getting to know him.

Here is some of what he told me.

His first strides on the ice

For the first 10 years of his life, Pavel Datsyuk shared a bedroom with his older sister, in a three-room apartment in the large, industrial city of Sverdlovsk. They lived on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator. "It's how I got strong," he jokes. "Walking up the steps." What he seems to remember most about the place is a window, which looked down onto a makeshift ice oval between the buildings. That oval is where Datsyuk learned hockey -- although before he learned it, he yearned it.

"One time I was so sick, but I saw the other kids playing, and I told my mother, 'I want to play. I want to go out.' My throat was sore. My head hurt. But she said, 'If you can eat this food, I'll let you go out.' I ate it, even sick, because I wanted to play so badly. And I ran out there and I was happy."

Datsyuk was a scrawny kid. When his father first brought him to the local sports club, there was hockey and there was chess and Pavel, for a year or so, played chess. When he focused on the ice, there were no early agents or scouts, no joining the national team, no flying overseas to live with an American family.

Instead, Pavel played locally and didn't think a lot about professional hockey. He didn't think about much besides being a kid and having fun. His father, Valery, drove a van for a nearby company and his mother, Galina, worked as a cook for a military outlet. She would take him there sometimes and they'd come home with arms full of fruits, meats, desserts.

One time, when Pavel was in his early teens, his mother took him on a vacation. They went to a town near the sea. They swam. They enjoyed the sun. "Just me and her," he says. "It was a really good time."

When they got home, her health deteriorated rapidly. Pavel was only a teenager. He didn't understand why she was sleeping nights on the couch, why she was so tired all the time, why his sister began injecting her with pain medication.

Then one snow-filled morning, his sister woke him up and said their mother had died in her sleep. She was 46.

"I felt guilty," says Datsyuk, who was 16 at the time. "She had cancer. I didn't know she was so sick. I thought she would get better.

"When I look back, I think she took that last vacation with me because she knew she was going to die. She hugged me a lot. She loved me so much. But I don't think I understood how much at the time. I was too young."

Finding the love of his life

Her death had a profound effect on Datsyuk. "The day of the funeral, when I came home, the apartment -- it didn't have any color. It felt cold. I can still see that image now."

He chokes up even talking about it. He swallows and his cheeks redden. But back then, instead of expressing his grief, he drifted into a lonely fog. It went on for months. "I lost myself," he admits.

He skipped practices. He wanted to quit hockey altogether. Had he not been so afraid of how his father would react, we might never know of Pavel Datsyuk today.

Instead, because he didn't want to face the man's wrath, Datsyuk kept playing. He improved, but his body was still small for his age group -- he was maybe 150 pounds -- and although he was eligible, he went unselected in the 1996 and 1997 NHL drafts.

One night, when he was 18, he and a friend were at a café and they met a couple of girls. Datsyuk had just been given a car from the hockey club -- the first car he'd ever owned -- and he asked one girl if she wanted a ride. Her friend said yes. The girl said no. They haggled back and forth. Finally, she relented, he drove her home, and when they said good-bye, she gave him her phone number. Her name was Svetlana.

"I knew she was special, but I couldn't tell anybody," he says. "I couldn't express it to anyone how I felt."

Instead, a few days later, he tried to call her. The voice that answered sounded like her, but when he said who was calling, the voice said Svetlana wasn't home.

"I couldn't believe it," Datsyuk recalls. "She was pretending not to be her." An hour later, he called again. And again, the voice said, "She's still not home."

Datsyuk was incensed. He told a friend, "Can you believe this? Why did she even give me her number?"

He tried one more time, same result. Then, after a few minutes, his phone rang. It was Svetlana. She really had been out. The voice on the phone had been her mother.

"Even today," Datsyuk admits, smiling, "it's hard to tell them apart."

He and Svetlana were married three years later -- just before he came to America. It would prove, he says, a smart move. Finding a partner before fame and fortune can be the best path for a professional athlete.

"We really knew each other. We grew up together," Datsyuk says. And although he initially did not tell her he was a hockey player -- "When she asked where I was going, I said I had to leave town for a few days for work" -- in time, she accepted his occupation and even encouraged him to stay with it when a severe knee injury made him wonder if he could come back. He needed rehab and therapy.

"What would you have done if you couldn't have played hockey anymore?" I ask.

He grins and recites something in Russian. "You can plan, but God decides," comes the translation.

Pavel Datsyuk, philosopher.

The long road to Motown

Did you know Datsyuk was baptized was he was 21? The knee injury had something to do with it. So did the manager of his hockey team at the time, who kept asking him what he believed in and why he didn't believe in more.

"I was not thinking like a man," Pavel says now, "I was thinking like a boy."

Not long after that, he headed to America as an unheralded sixth-round draft pick. It was not like signing Sidney Crosby. Detroit wasn't sure what it had in Datsyuk. And Datsyuk was less sure than the Wings. As the 171st player taken, he hadn't even believed the news when a friend told him. He'd never met anyone from Detroit.

"It's in the newspaper," his friend said.

"Show me," Pavel said.

Then the Wings' European scouting ace, Hakan Andersson, came to visit. He explained that he actually had been scouting another player when he noticed Datsyuk's skills, small as he was, and became intrigued. He was on a plane to see him again when it got cancelled -- and a scout from St. Louis was on the same plane. That was lucky, Andersson said, because as a result, he was the only NHL scout to see Datsyuk before the draft, which is how the Wings came to steal him so low.

All of this meant little to Datsyuk, who never thought he was going to make the NHL anyhow. He nodded at Andersson, who needed a translator to speak Russian.

"He asked me do I need anything. I wanted to say, 'Yes. I need money.' "

Instead, Datsyuk says, Andersson sent him a pair of skates.

Adjusting to the NHL

Can you imagine arriving in America, with a new wife, a new career, no English -- and a few days later, living through Sept. 11? That's what happened to Datsyuk. He came for Wings training camp in the fall of 2001, and all of a sudden, he saw people huddled around TV sets in their Traverse City hotel. He saw strangers crying.

"I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't even know how to ask anyone."

Since that baptism of fire, he admits, American life has gotten easier. Having Russian teammates was a huge help. And the language barrier has been useful over the years in dealing with the media. "Most of the time," he says, "nobody comes up to me, and I can do what I need to do."

But there is part of Datsyuk that yearns to be better understood now. Life has forced him to mature. His father died a few years ago of a heart attack while sitting behind the wheel in a parking lot in Russia.

"I only found out after he died how proud he was of me. If I scored or something, he would talk to his friends about it. When I was playing in Russia" during the lockout year "he would call his friends and talk about how this happened or that happened. I never knew this. I found out from those men after he died.â€

Why didn't you talk more when he was alive?

"I don't know. He never came to watch me play in America."

Did he ever ask for a ticket?

"He never asked."

Do you wish he had gotten to see you before he died?

He swallows, and his face reddens again.

"Him -- and my mom."

So even if he tries to hide it, there is more to Datsyuk than the boyish haircut and the angular face that smirks and smiles. He is a father himself -- of a 6-year-old daughter. He is a rich man -- in the midst of a $47-million contract -- yet he's wise enough to quote an old Russian expression, "A happy person is the one who doesn't need anything." He is lightning quick on the ice, yet off the ice he often parks in the farthest spot, saying he misses the days in Russia when he used to have to walk everywhere.

And when I ask him the greatest moment of his hockey career, he says, "When I got injured in Russia." When pressed to explain, he says, "Because that is when I learned to appreciate how much I love the game."

His opponents would prefer he love it a little less. He is about to attack them in force starting tonight, as the Wings begin their defense of the Stanley Cup facing Columbus -- a team against which Datsyuk has notched 50 points in 37 career games.

What do you want people to know about you that they don't, I ask him?

"I am 5-foot-11 and weigh 190," he says, laughing. "No, I don't really like compliments. I don't think I am as good as I can be. I don't want to make a commercial about myself. Please."

OK then.

No commercial. No ugly duckling story. Just a curtain lifted on a guy who has been a sports fixture for eight years in this town, and deserves a moment to explain himself -- in his own words. You see an amazing performer when you watch Pavel Datsyuk buzz around the ice. But from this point on, I, for one, will see a lot more. And I only wish I had found a translator a few years earlier.

Edited June 8, 2009 by EuroTwin

[Broken 16 381]

Fedorov in his prime was one of a kind. Datsyuk is very good...but not THAT good.

In his prime, Fedorov was among the best goal scorers and playmakers in the league, while being the league's best defensive forward, the league's best skater, and having one of the hardest and most accurate slapshots. He didn't fight often, but he did play a physical game and was IMPOSSIBLE to knock off the puck. His stickhandling was the best I have seen in my entire life. He was capable of playing any position as well as anyone in the league at that position, including defense. It's something I have never seen or heard of before, and will likely never see again.

Datsyuk is great, and by the end of his career will likely by a HOFer, but Fedorov in his prime was possibly the best, and most dominant, all-around player the NHL will ever see.

Fedorov was was more like a jet. Pav's is more like a helicopter. You're comparing apples to oranges.

[egroen 384]

The best comparison to Datsyuk is Larionov, not Fedorov ---

On the KLM Line, Larionov was an incredible playmaker and also the defensively responsible one. One of the most underrated russians ever.

Just smart players, with high on-ice IQs and the skills to make it happen.

Like Datsyuk, Larionov had a deceptively quick and accurate wrister as well.

[eva unit zero 271]

Fedorov was was more like a jet. Pav's is more like a helicopter. You're comparing apples to oranges.

My point was that Fedorov was much more talented all-around.

[Opie 308]

My point was that Fedorov was much more talented all-around.

Yeah in two seasons which were the only two he ever bested 90 points. Don't get me wrong his one high end year will be better than any Pav ever puts together (120 pts, 56g, 64a, Hart, Selke, etc...) however if comparing the body of work Pavs is already a better player in the fact that his seasons are not surrounded by 50 60 point seasons (imo).

Listen Feds had two monstrous seasons in the Winged wheel, two of the best ever in the wheel. The dude had 5 great postseasons. But how did he do when Yzerman and Shanny were injured against LA.

OK stupid knock that was just thrown in there to piss off Eva who will never admit that Pavel is better than Chris Simon at anything (careful exaggeration).

You can say he had better years, but consistency is Apples to Zebras

Not like you would ever give Pavs credit for ANYTHING!

Sure Feds has unreal playoff stats, but where did you mention that in you justification again?

Again look at Feds gp and Point totals.

1248 1179

Dats:

526 522

Pavs is the picture of consistency 87, 87, 97, 97 Points the last 4 years. And in fact the only inconsistent years Feds had were the years he excelled, other than that in the regular season he was much closer to a 70 point a year scorer where as certain LGWers (not just Eva) clamor about his Great Seasons with the Wings like it was every season. He had 2!

Other than the 120 and the 107 he only hit 87 once! In a much higher scoring league.

You can say Feds all you want, but lets not pretend it is cut and dry.

Feds Post season puts him over Pavel for me right now (thanks to NN for pointing that out a year or so ago) however Eva they day you give Pavel credit for anything is the day you also admit your stats are half made up!

[Wombat 26]

Fedorov in his prime was one of a kind. Datsyuk is very good...but not THAT good.

In his prime, Fedorov was among the best goal scorers and playmakers in the league, while being the league's best defensive forward, the league's best skater, and having one of the hardest and most accurate slapshots. He didn't fight often, but he did play a physical game and was IMPOSSIBLE to knock off the puck. His stickhandling was the best I have seen in my entire life. He was capable of playing any position as well as anyone in the league at that position, including defense. It's something I have never seen or heard of before, and will likely never see again.

Datsyuk is great, and by the end of his career will likely by a HOFer, but Fedorov in his prime was possibly the best, and most dominant, all-around player the NHL will ever see.

This doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the thread. I didn't see people comparing Datsyuk to Fedorov in this thread. And just because Fedorov was a transcendent talent and a one-of-a-kind himself, it does not mean that Datsyuk is not, simply by not being as "great" as Fedorov.

One-of-a-kind, to me, not only means high skill level, but also playing with a style that is not easily replicated. Datsyuk may never be the best player in the league (in terms of Harts/Pearsons), but he is great and has a style that is "him". In many ways, I see him comparable to Barry Sanders. It's a herky/jerky style that makes defenders miss them and in many ways, both were able to completely embarrass professional players at the highest plateau of their craft.

The main difference I see historically is that Sanders will be in the discussion as one of the best ever at his position (easier to do in a sport with some 10+ different positions), whereas Datsyuk will probably not, in a historical sense, be considered even a top 20 all time at his position.

[redwashington2000 42]

I'd say it's a little of a stretch to say Igor Larionov wasn't a player of the same caliber as anyone in the league today, even Dats. You've got to remember that we only got to see him play at the end of his hockey career. When he was younger, in the USSR, he was a world-class star.

Anyway, I wouldn't say Datsyuk is altogether unique in the league. The fact that he plays exceptional defense sets him apart, but there are a few others who display just as much flair (Ovechkin, for example).

LOL don't even try, Pav > Ovi, Ovi does not have even 50% of the hockey intelligence Pav has.

[redwashington2000 42]

If you will look at Pavs and Feds skating, they are kind of similar, just imagine a shark making circles , Feds used to skate like this Pav is doining the same moves.

[bellarina 1]

In my opinion, Dats is the best player in the league. I've been saying it for abot 3 years now.

He is not flashy or intimidating, he is what he is "unreal".

He does it all.

Puck possession, Scores , Sets up, Hits (like a good ole GM truck),Plays "D", He basically makes the other team worry about what he is going to do next (maybe he is intimidating..hmmm.).

and when he talks to the media he shines.

He has a quality about him that sets him apart from everyone, so YES he is one of a kind.

[MidMichSteve 1,115]

From a June 1 locked thread.

hate to predict it, but I think Dats won't return to the line-up until game 5 with the series tied 2-2. But, he'll be the difference maker. Tea leaves, they work.

What brand tea do you drink?

Edited June 8, 2009 by MidMichSteve

[Stiffy 0]

My favorite quote was in the SCF in 2002, Datsyuk's rookie year. I remember that season and even though he got knocked off the puck a lot, you would watch his moves, turns, passes and say, "Where the hell did they find this kid!!!." During the triple OT, first OT, Datsyuk deked the living crap out of 3 Canes only to just fail getting the puck high enough to beat the goalie. The announcers called it "Gretsky-esque moves." It was unbelievable and had he scored... Any way, the announcers commented that Aaron Ward (then a Cane) said earlier in some interview that of all the Wings, and this includes Federov, Larinov, Yzerman, Shannahan, Hull and Lidstrom, that of all the Wings the absolute last one he would ever want to face one on one was Pavel Datsyuk. I think that says a lot. This rookie was scrambling the D's mind from day one. The announcers went on to talk about how Datsyuk would probably become a great player.