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As one of the Original Six NHL franchises, the Detroit Red Wings have been blessed with a plethora of superstars throughout the years, from Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, and Terry Sawchuk in the mid-20th century to the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, and Nicklas Lidstrom in more recent times. Detroit has always embraced foreign stars (see the “Russian Five” from the 1990s) and thus, it should come as no surprise that in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the latest generation of Red Wings was led by Pavel Datsyuk from Russia and Henrik Zetterberg of Sweden. Though each dealt with his fair share of injuries, the duo were among the most electrifying players in the league when fully healthy, and helped Detroit add to its Stanley Cup trophy case. With their stellar careers essentially overlapping, let us look back and ask:
Who was better – Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg?
The Beginning
Both Datsyuk and Zetterberg were drafted relatively late by Detroit and spent a number of years honing their skills in their native countries before venturing stateside; upon their NHL arrivals, each would make an immediate impact for veteran Red Wings teams.
Born in the former Soviet Union, Datsyuk played for Dynamo Yekaterinburg’s farm team as a teenager, though was not a highly touted hockey prospect due to his smaller size. He did excel at soccer and those all-around skills eventually translated to his hockey game; after going undrafted in both the 1996 and 1997 NHL Entry Drafts, he was selected 171st overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings. Following a few more seasons in the Russian Superleague with Dynamo Yekaterinburg and Ak Bars Kazan, Datsyuk came over to the NHL for the 2001-2002 season – playing on a veteran Detroit team that included the likes of Yzerman, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Igor Larionov, and Brett Hull, Datsyuk had a solid rookie year with 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points and a +4 +/- rating to finish fourth in the Calder Trophy voting for top rookie.
Zetterberg had a similar path to the NHL – the Swedish native played for Timra IK in his country’s domestic league before being drafted 210th overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings. In total, he would spend five years with Timra IK before arriving in the NHL for the 2002-2003 season. As a rookie, he played on the “Two Kids and an Old Goat” line with Datsyuk and the aforementioned Hull, posting 22 goals and 22 assists for 44 points with a +6 +/- rating to place as runner-up for the Calder Trophy.
Career Comparison
With the retirement of the old guard (e.g. Yzerman and Lidstrom), Datsyuk and Zetterberg would assume the mantle of team leaders and for the next decade, provide dynamic two-way play in helping the Red Wings maintain the team’s longstanding on-ice excellence.
Datsyuk took on a more prominent role after Fedorov left the Red Wings in 2003, improving from 51 points in his second season to 68 points in his third year, including his first 30-goal season. Post the 2004-2005 lockout, which he spent playing for Dynamo Moscow, Datsyuk returned to the NHL with 28 goals and 59 assists for 87 points and a +26 +/- rating to win the first of four straight Lady Byng Trophies for “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”. This was followed by a near-identical 87-point season (27 goals and 60 assists with a +36 +/- rating) in 2006-2007 and another Lady Byng before soaring to even greater heights the next few seasons:
- 2007-2008: 31 goals and a career-high 66 assists for a career-high 97 points with a league-best and career-best +41 +/- rating; Datsyuk not only won a third Lady Byng, but also won the first of three consecutive Selke Trophies for best defensive forward and finished ninth for the Hart Trophy
- 2008-2009: near-identical season with a career-best 32 goals and 65 assists for another 97 points with a +34 +/- rating; fourth and final Lady Byng, second Selke Trophy, and a career-best third-place Hart finish behind countrymen Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin
- 2009-2010: 27 goals and 43 assists for 70 points and a +17 +/- rating to win third and final Selke Trophy
Though he was limited to 56 games played in 2010-2011, Datsyuk continued to produce at a point-per-game level with 23 goals and 36 assists for 59 points with a +11 +/- rating, finishing third for the Selke (he would have a trio of consecutive third-place finishes); dogged by nagging injuries, the most games he would ever play in a season going forward was 70 games in 2011-2012 (67 points on 19 goals and 48 assists). During the 2012-2013 lockout, Datsyuk joined CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) before returning to the shortened NHL season and producing 49 points (15 goals and 34 assists) and a +21 +/- rating in 47 games to finish 10th in Hart Trophy voting. He would spend three more seasons in Detroit, putting up 37 points in 45 games, 65 points in 63 games, and in his final season in 2015-2016, 49 points (16 goals and 33 assists) with a +7 +/- rating in 66 games. At age 37, Datyuk’s contract was traded to the Arizona Coyotes with the 16th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft for Joe Vitale and the 20th and 53rd overall picks, but Datsyuk would never lace up his skates for Arizona; instead, he returned to Russia to play for SKA Saint Petersburg in the KHL and later joined his hometown team, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.
As for Zetterberg, he had a similar sophomore campaign to his rookie year before the 2004-2005 lockout, during which he returned to Sweden to play for Timra IK. Upon a return to the NHL, echoing the “Russian Five” from a decade ago, he would form part of a “Swedish Five” for the Red Wings that also included Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Mikael Samuelsson, and Niklas Kronwell, all of whom would be part of the Olympic team in 2006. Moreover, Zetterberg emerged as a star in 2005-2006, scoring 39 goals with 46 assists for 85 points and a +29 +/- rating, finishing second on the team in scoring to Datsyuk and producing the second-highest point total of his career; in addition, Zetterberg was sixth for the Lady Byng and ninth for the Selke with his outstanding two-way play. The next year, he was limited to 63 games played, but still had 68 points (33 goals and 35 assists) with a +26 +/- rating. Zetterberg’s best season came in 2007-2008, when he started the season with a team-record 16-game point scoring streak and ended up posting career-highs of 43 goals and 49 assists for 92 points with a +30 +/- rating; as a result, he finished third for the Selke (won by Datsyuk), fifth for the Lady Byng, 10th for the Hart, and would win Conn Smythe honors (more on that later).
Coming off this career year, Zetterberg remained a point-per-game producer in his prime, finishing fourth for the Selke Trophy in 2008-2009 with 73 points (31 goals and 42 assists) and having another top-10 finish in 2009-2010 (23 goals and 47 assists for 70 points with a +12 +/- rating). Additionally, during the 2008-2009 season, he signed the richest contract in franchise history at 12 years and $73M, and would reward the team with an 80-point season (24 goals and 56 assists) in 2010-2011, though the -1 +/- rating was the first negative rating of his career. With Lidstrom’s retirement and the return from lockout, Zetterberg assumed Detroit’s captaincy in 2013; however, due to the lockout and injury, he only played in 46 and 45 games, respectively, over the next couple of seasons.
Ironically, in the last four years of his NHL career, Zetterberg was as healthy as ever, playing no fewer than 77 games per year, including the full 82-game schedule in each of his last three seasons (after only playing 82 games once prior). In 2014-2015, in addition to 17 goals and 49 assists for 66 points and a -6 +/- rating, Zetterberg was honored with the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for the player that “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community”. His scoring dipped to 50 points in 2015-2016, then increased back to 68 points in 2016-2017 (his highest output since pre-lockout) before tallying 56 points (11 goals and 45 assists) in his final season in 2017-2018 at age 37; though he was forced to stop playing due to a degenerative back condition, Zetterberg’s 12-year contract with the Red Wings runs through 2021.
With their Detroit tenures essentially overlapping, Datsyuk and Zetterberg played 13 years together; overall, the latter spent an additional year in the NHL and accumulated roughly 130 additional games played. As such, Zetterberg has slight edges in terms of career goals, assists, and points, though Datsyuk has a better overall +/- rating. Going a step deeper into these numbers, Zetterberg has more 30-goal seasons (4 to 3), whereas Datsyuk holds the advantage in both 80-point seasons (4 to 3) and 90-point seasons (2 to 1), and has a higher career point-per-game average (0.96 vs. 0.89). From an awards and honors perspective, Datsyuk also earned more All-Star Game selections (4 to 2) and has four Lady Byngs and three Selkes to Zetterberg’s Conn Smythe and Clancy. As of present, neither Red Wings great is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and it remains to be seen if either will one day receive the sport’s highest honors.
Regular Season Statistics
| Pavel Datsyuk | Player | Henrik Zetterberg |
| 14 (2001-2016) | Seasons | 15 (2002-2018) |
| 953 | Games Played | 1,082 |
| 314 | Goals | 337 |
| 604 | Assists | 623 |
| 918 | Points | 960 |
| +249 | +/- | +160 |
| 4x | All-Star Games | 2x |
| – | Hart Trophies | – |
| – | Ross Trophies | – |
| 2x | Stanley Cups | 1x |
| – | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| 4x Lady Byng, 3x Selke | Other Awards | 1x Clancy |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In addition to their individual prowess, Datsyuk and Zetterberg together led the Red Wings to the playoffs year in and year out, and helped the team add to its collection of Stanley Cup titles.
Datsyuk appeared in the playoffs in each of his 14 NHL seasons vs. Zetterberg making 13 straight trips before missing out in his final two seasons as Detroit entered rebuilding mode. During Datsyuk’s rookie season, the Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the Stanley Cup Finals, and he contributed 6 points (3 goals and 3 assists). Later on, both players would shine in the 2008 playoffs, as Detroit defeated Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games for yet another championship; Datsyuk was strong in the playoffs with 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points and a +12 +/- rating, while Zetterberg was even better – he led the postseason with 13 goals and 27 total points with a +16 +/- rating to capture Conn Smythe honors as playoff MVP.
Both players were also stars on the international stage for their respective countries. On one hand, Datsyuk represented Russia at the Olympics 5x, including being named team captain at both the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea; though the team disappointingly did not medal on home ice, he did guide them to a gold medal in Pyeongchang (where NHL players did not participate) and also earned a bronze at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Similarly, together with the “Swedish Five” and other stars like Henrik Lundqvist, Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, Peter Forsberg, and the Sedin twins, Zetterberg helped lead Sweden to gold at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, while also earning a silver medal in Sochi. Outside of the Olympics, both players also won a gold, silver, and two bronze medals at the World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Pavel Datsyuk | Player | Henrik Zetterberg |
| 157 | Games Played | 137 |
| 42 | Goals | 57 |
| 71 | Assists | 63 |
| 113 | Points | 120 |
| +34 | +/- | +41 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; due to nagging injuries, both Datsyuk and Zetterberg saw their production wane in their last few seasons with the Red Wings. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Pavel Datsyuk | Player | Henrik Zetterberg |
| 2003-2004, 2005-2013, 2014-2015 | Decade of Dominance | 2005-2013, 2014-2015, 2016-2017 |
| 708 | Games Played | 733 |
| 258 | Goals | 260 |
| 488 | Assists | 459 |
| 746 | Points | 719 |
| +217 | +/- | +134 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In looking at their decades of dominance, which normalizes for the games played differential, Zetterberg remains the marginally better scorer, but Datsyuk is better in all other counting categories, while also maintaining a better point-per-game average.
My Thoughts
In the case of Pavel Datsyuk vs. Henrik Zetterberg, the matchup is particularly apt because their careers are not only similar in duration, but they essentially overlapped on the same team, thus making for perhaps the most direct comparison possible. Offensively, each player’s peak was relatively similar in the mid-to-late 2000s (80-90+ point range) and their career totals are also comparable, but I think what separates Datsyuk is his superior all-around play; granted, Zetterberg had a few top-10 Selke finishes, but Datsyuk won three Selkes in a row and his two-way play is unmatched in recent hockey history except by maybe Patrice Bergeron. As a result, in his prime, Datsyuk was arguably a top-five player (see his third-place Hart Trophy finish), whereas Zetterberg was never quite in that rarified air. The one big edge Zetterberg has is winning the Conn Smythe in 2008, but if you look at the numbers, Datsyuk was almost as good in that postseason.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Pavel Datsyuk
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings or any other NHL team in action
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