New Pavel Datsyuk interview from Dmitry Chesnokov

[Jenny 315]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/puck-daddy-chats-red-wings-pavel-datsyuk-nhl-152127707.html

Enjoy.

Be warned the last few lines may cause slightly leaky eyes.

[13dangledangle 958]

Q-Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Will you still be playing?

A-I hope not

........Well Piss. Thanks for posting though his interviews are like his play------> One of a kind.

[Echolalia 2,961]

Wow that last one hit home hard.

[wmuwingsfan 5]

Who would you be if you weren't a hockey player?

I would love to do something creative. To be a designer, for example. I'd be an interior designer, or a clothes designer.

Perhaps inventing jockstraps that stay on goalies when he dekes them into next year?

[Nev 1,085]

If you had a chance to have dinner with any person you wish, who would it be and what would you talk about?

I would really want to have one more dinner with my parents. What would we talk about? It's too difficult to say. I think we would just sit and look at each other

[wings_fanatic 677]

I cant believe coaches in Russia would blackmail parents so that their kids CANT go to Pavel Datsyuk's came!!! Crazy damn communists!! haha

[evilzyme 769]

We all know he's getting better with his english, and is being accustomed to America... but this interview was just so emotional to me. This was Pasha really speaking out for one of the first times, it seems like hes opening up more. The whole segment about his camps, and how he suggest to parents if they do come in contact with coaches that would prevent their players to go to a camp that they would benefit from to simply drop them because its a dead end. The whole segment about his parents, his love for hockey and how fresh he feels. I just liked everything about this interview, not like the normal pasha interview, but more.

[PROBIE4PREZ 58]

Reading it now and got as far as them mentioning HBO's 24/7 and the Winter Classic. Is HBO going to follow the Wings?

It's also very clear he misses his parents =(

Edited March 22, 2012 by PROBIE4PREZ

[Sprsquirt7 45]

I cant believe coaches in Russia would blackmail parents so that their kids CANT go to Pavel Datsyuk's came!!! Crazy damn communists!! haha

It happens at every level in every country. Its always a competition and whole organizations will threaten kids/parents that they won't be welcomed back if they go play spring or summer league somewhere else. It is one of those negative aspects of the game, good old politics.

This interview was awesome though, his answers are real...

[wings_fanatic 677]

well good old politics should not prevent kids from getting on ice training from the best freakin hockey player in the world, Pavel Datsyuk... that is just so stupid. I would send my kid there not caring because I bet pasha would set something up to get my kid in another league.

[Jedi 1,865]

Great read. Thanks for posting!

If you had a chance to have dinner with any person you wish, who would it be and what would you talk about?

I would really want to have one more dinner with my parents. What would we talk about? It's too difficult to say. I think we would just sit and look at each other. It would also be great to have dinner with Winston Churchill. I think he was a great speaker and I love his quotes. I think he would be a very interesting person to have a conversation with.

I've said the same thing myself for years now.

[wingslogo19 281]

What a great interview. Thank you for posting the link.

[Red Wings Addict 787]

The parts I appreciated the most:

Q. Which actor would play Pavel Datsyuk in a movie?

DATSYUK: I honestly don't see an actor who could do that, an actor who is so goofy and pale. It'd be tough to be that goofy.

Hmm... Who would play Pav best in movie? Goldblum?

Q. If you were to pick one, who would you be: Mayor of Detroit, President of Russia or NHL Commissioner?

I'd have to pass on all of the above. These jobs aren't exciting to me.

Good for you, Pav. Stay away from politics. Don't be another ****** and/or a turd.

Q. Who would you be if you weren't a hockey player?

I would love to do something creative. To be a designer, for example. I'd be an interior designer, or a clothes designer. Or maybe I would invent something. It's also possible I'd work in advertising creating various slogans.

Pavel Datsyuk Interior Designs. Nice. Maybe he and Sean Avery can work together or something.

Q. You hold hockey camps for young players in your home town. Do you face a lot of challenges?

It is an expensive venture. Ice is very expensive. People only say that they would help with organizing this: local hockey authorities, sponsors… There are people who help with something specific: like donating a car. But nothing more than that. I will never go somewhere to beg someone.

I am also shocked that other kids' coaches are jealous of our camp. They think that we take their bread. But it's the opposite. We are trying to help them. Let them come to our classes, share their experience. I am shocked by their mindset. I am faced with the fact that coaches blackmail parents whose kids play hockey.

Q. What do you mean?!

They say 'If you go to Datsyuk's camp, we will play your son on the third or fourth line. Of course parents care about their children, don't take them to our camp even though kids themselves want to come. My friends decided to hold a camp this winter, work out with children. A lot of kids signed up. And then a friend calls me and says '15 people declined, their coach prohibited.' These people don't let kids go to other coaches and don't do anything themselves.

My advice to parents — run away from these coaches who don't want your kids to develop and advance. This is a dead end.

Oh drama drama drama...

Q. Tell us about your first skates…

It was when I was playing on my very first organized team. It was my neighborhood team. When I was a little boy I always thought that whenever I start playing for a team I'd be given hockey skates, a real hockey stick. I didn't think about other equipment at the time, only about skates and sticks. But that didn't happen. Not even a notion of anyone giving anything.

So I ended up playing wearing white figure skates.

I ended up playing quite a few games wearing figure skates. It was very upsetting to hear all of the people watching games yelling to me 'Hey, figure skater!' I was very young and it bothered me.

I bet Pav could get a bunch of young hockey players trying out figure skates. "Pav did it, I should too!"

Q. Is it true that when you were your junior team captain and another player wanted to take over, the team put you against each other and told you two to fight?

It wasn't exactly like that.

That guy and I used to take the same bus to practices to a different part of town. And one day he and I had a fight in the locker room. And our teammates blew it all up and put us against each other. There were more guys on my side and I felt very confident. So we had another fight with him. But we have since become friends again and are actually very close now.

At the same time other guys started showing true leadership qualities. I was a captain for some time. But then it was taken away and given to someone who is now my best friend. The coach just told us 'Now we have a new captain.'

That's it.

Q. Did you get upset?

Not really. Quite the opposite. That "C" was an extra weight on my jersey. It was a lot easier to play without it. I think it depends on a person whether being a captain adds pressure or gives that extra energy. I think whenever a coach tells you 'You're the captain! You're the leader! You should lead this team!' it adds that extra energy, a player tried to give it his all on the ice.

Sometimes, however, one can try too much and go over the top. A player can try to do too much on his own thinking it's for the best. But that's when it can go wrong and that pressure starts mounting because you can't do it all alone at this level. This means that whoever is wearing the "C" should seriously consider everything that comes into play."

I wonder who this other player is, haha. And I guess it might be safe to say that Pav will decline if the Wings offer him the C after Lidstrom retires.

Q. Did you see the Giroux penalty shot in a recent game? The one he named "The Datsyuk?"

Yes, I saw it. It's very, very flattering. Thank him so much. It feels very good. I am very happy. No other words to describe it.

Q. Besides a shootout move, what else could be called Datsyuk?

I know people call their pets Datsyuk. I have heard of cases when turtles, lizards as wells as cats and dogs were named Datsyuk.

Some of the people who named their pets after Datsyuk are on LGW. I just know it.

Q. You are a two-way forward. Is it fair to say that as a player it is fun to score goals and boring to play defense?

Sure, some may say that. But it depends on how you see things. Playing defense actually is an intellectual challenge. It is a mental game. It is fun to make people nervous. You can get someone upset by your defensive play when they realize that things aren't going well for them offensively. Of course it is fun to score goals and create offense. But playing defense can be just as interesting. Besides, I don't know any team that won something without defense.

[Jenny 315]

Some of the people who named their pets after Datsyuk are on LGW. I just know it.

I haven't yet, but I do plan on getting two puppies and naming them Pavel and Hank.

[Kira 451]

It just shows that deep inside, he's a very cerebral person and hockey player. But the things he said about his parents got to me, because I know where he's coming from on that one. Pasha, you're not the only one who wishes for one more dinner with their parents. And I know your mom, and your dad, are watching over you. They are a part of you - a very indelible part.