At a news conference at 12 noon on Saturday the 18th of June, Pavel Datsyuk announced that he will be finishing his playing career in the KHL. This news has been expected for a couple of months now and was announced after Datsyuk made his decision final. Datsyuk started the press conference by thanking everyone involved. But now, he said, it is time for him and his family to return home. Datsyuk does have a daughter over in Russia, which is part of what factored into his decision.
Datsyuk also said this was a hard decision to make, but he made it after the world championship. He did confirm he made the decision himself. He will get to give his Russian fans a farewell tour. When asked, Datsyuk did say he has not chosen a new team yet. One of his ending answers to a question is that he hopes to continue his youth camp in Detroit every year. It is expected he will work with the Red Wings and General Manager Ken Holland to get the final year of his contract traded.
John Shannon of Sportsnet tweeted Friday night that Datsyuk’s contract will be terminated for anticipatory breach and he will be free to sign in Russia. Also, that because Datsyuk is 35, there will be a cap hit attached to the contract. John Shannon followed those tweets up with a tweet Saturday morning stating that,"On Datsyuk contract, once terminated, he can not be traded, but cap hit remains. If the Wings are to trade PD, it would be before termination". Ken Holland will have a press conference at 2 pm EST to further update fans on this news.
Number Retirement and a Thank You note
Datsyuk had a hall of fame career in Detroit. With 314 goals and 604 assists for 918 points in 953 games, his impact will be remembered forever. Most people around the NHL believe he’d have a much higher point total if he focused on offence only, but he’s one of the best two-way forwards to ever play the game of hockey. Datsyuk has amassed four Lady Byng Trophies, three Frank J. Selke Trophies, is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, and has been selected to four NHL All-Star Game teams. At the international stage, he has one World Championship gold, one World Championship silver, and two World Champion bronze medals to go with one Olympic bronze medal.
There has already been talk amongst Red Wing fans about retiring his number. The thing with that is, is does he get the number retired? Does his get retired and Sergei Fedorov’s jersey doesn’t? Do they both? Neither? Many will argue Datsyuk is one of the 10 best all time Red Wings and have a good argument too. There’s no telling how the Red Wings front office feels on the subject.
Pavel, thank you on behalf of all Red Wings fans for giving it all you could during your NHL career. You accomplished a whole lot in your time here and Red Wings fans everywhere will not forget that.