An Ice Hockey Wiki article.

Position	Center
Shoots	Left
Nickname(s)	Dats
Height Weight	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 197 lb (90 kg)
NHL Team	Detroit Red Wings
Nationality	Russia
Born	July 20 1978 (1978-07-20) (age 31), Sverdlovsk, USSR
NHL Draft	171st overall, 1998 Detroit Red Wings
Pro Career	2001 – present

Pavel Valerievitch Datsyuk (Павел Дацюк, Pavel Dacjuk) (b. January 20th 1978 in Sverdlovsk, Russia, Soviet Union) is a professional centre who plays in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings.

Pre-NHL career

Datsyuk was not considered an elite hockey player because of his small size. The Red Wings scouts liked his skills, but they were not certain he would ever grow enough and become strong enough to play in the NHL. As it turns out, he did grow and gain the necessary strength and the Wings decided to bring him to North America after drafting him in 1998.

NHL career

When Datsyuk began his NHL career for the Red Wings, he had mentors including legend Igor Larionov, Detroit captain Steve Yzerman, and Russian star Sergei Fedorov to help him learn his way around the NHL. He was put on a line with Brett Hull and Boyd Devereaux, and had a moderately productive first year. The length and difficulty of the NHL season got to him eventually, causing him to sit out a few of games at the end of the year in preparation for the playoffs. He contributed three goals and three assists in the playoffs to the Stanley Cup winning run.

Expectations were high for Datsyuk's second season, particularly with the addition of another highly touted prospect to the team, Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg replaced Devereaux on the Datsyuk-Hull line and the famous version of the "Two Kids and an Old Goat Line" was born. He only played 64 games due to a knee injury, but ended up with 51 points on the year. His playoff performance was a bit disappointing that year but the same could be said about the entire Red Wings team. They were swept by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the first round and Datsyuk was held pointless.

The departure of Sergei Fedorov in the 2003 off-season made room for Datsyuk to rise to prominence on the Wings. He took full advantage of his extra ice time. He ended up being selected to play in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game and entered the ranks of legitimate scorers in the NHL. In the playoffs, he had no goals and 6 assists through 12 games before the Wings were eliminated in the second round.

He was a restricted free agent during the 2004-05 off-season, but could not reach a deal with the Wings despite repeated statements by his agent indicating his desire to stay in Detroit. He chose not to go into salary arbitration and played with HC Dynamo Moscow during the 2004-05 lockout. On September 4, 2005, Datsyuk signed a one-year contract with Avangard Omsk of the Russian Hockey League, and Moscow Dynamo matched the offer two days later.

On September 19, 2005, the day the arbitration committee of the Russian Hockey League was set to determine which club had Datsyuk's rights, Datsyuk agreed to a two-year deal with the Red Wings for a total of US$7.8 million.

During the 2005-06 season, his high level of play combined with his exceptional sportsmanship (he recorded just 22 penalty minutes the entire season) won him the Lady Byng Trophy.

On April 6, 2007, Pavel signed a 7 year contract extension with the Red Wings for US $46.9 million.

Awards

• NHL Offensive Player of the Month - December 2003
• Played in NHL All-Star Game - 2004
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy - 2006
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy - 2007

Career statistics

Stats as of the end of the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs

External links

• RedWings.com profile
• Pavel Datsyuk's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Official Web Site

This article is part of the Russian hockey portal.