Pavel Datsyuk (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #62)
Adjusted Stats
2001-2002 Det* 70 GP 13 goals 28 assists 41 points 0.59 PPG
2002-2003 Det 64 GP 14 goals 45 assists 59 points 0.92 PPG
2003-2004 Det 75 GP 36 goals 45 assists 81 points 1.08 PPG
2005-2006 Det 75 GP 28 goals 60 assists 88 points 1.18 PPG
2006-2007 Det 79 GP 29 goals 64 assists 93 points 1.18 PPG
2007-2008 Det* 82 GP 35 goals 75 assists 110 points 1.34 PPG
2008-2009 Det 81 GP 35 goals 70 assists 105 points 1.29 PPG
2009-2010 Det 80 GP 30 goals 47 assists 77 points 0.96 PPG
2010-2011 Det 56 GP 26 goals 41 assists 66 points 1.19 PPG
Adjusted Playoff Stats
2001-2002 Det* 21 GP 4 goals 4 assists 7 points 0.34 PPG
2002-2003 Det 4 GP 0 goals 0 assists 0 points 0.00 PPG
2003-2004 Det 12 GP 0 goals 8 assists 8 points 0.64 PPG
2005-2006 Det 5 GP 0 goals 3 assists 3 points 0.60 PPG
2006-2007 Det 18 GP 9 goals 9 assists 18 points 1.01 PPG
2007-2008 Det* 22 GP 10 goals 14 assists 24 points 1.10 PPG
2008-2009 Det 16 GP 1 goal 8 assists 9 points 0.58 PPG
2009-2010 Det 12 GP 6 goals 7 assists 12 points 1.02 PPG
2010-2011 Det 11 GP 4 goals 11 assists 15 points 1.37 PPG
Career - 662 GP, 246 goals, 475 assists, 720 points, 1.09 PPG
Career-Highs - 36 goals (03-04); 75 assists (07-08); 110 points (07-08); 1.34 PPG (07-08)
Avg. (9 seasons) - 74 GP, 27 goals, 53 assists, 80 points, 1.09 PPG
Peak Avg. (02-11) - 74 GP, 29 goals, 56 assists, 85 points, 1.15 PPG, 1 Cup
Playoff Career - 121 GP, 34 goals, 64 assists, 96 points, 0.79 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 10 goals (07-08); 14 assists (07-08); 24 points (07-08); 1.37 PPG (10-11)
Accolades - 4 Lady Byngs, 3 Selke Trophies
All-Star Teams - 1-time 2nd-team
2-time Stanley Cup Champion
Here now is an example of the advantage players from this generation have over the old-timers on my Pyramid: I've seen them play, so I can judge their impact on the subtleties of the game. For prior generations, I have nothing to go on but the numbers and second-hand testimonies. So while it's entirely possible that, say, Dickie Moore may have been a better left-winger than Busher Jackson, I can only judge the accomplishments on paper. But this era I know, and I can safely say that Pavel Datsyuk is one of the best centers of the past twenty years, and a player that is more than likely to move up the Pyramid as time goes on.
Sure, the numbers of a Joe Thornton are more eye-popping, but Thornton was traded by his original team, whereas at no point in the last six years has Datsyuk not been one of the five most untradeable forwards in the league (yes, that's a triple-negative, I know). He's a Bob Gainey-level defender who can get you 90 to 110 points a season...essentially like Doug Gilmour's remarkable two years with the Maple Leafs except stretched out over a career.
I remember seeing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in Detroit (which the Red Wings ended up losing to Pittsburgh). I was seated next to some Red Wings fans, and at one point Datsyuk, who had been silent for most of the game, did a remarkable deke to get past the Pittsburgh defender, although he was stopped on his backhand by Marc-Andre Fleury. The crowd let out a noticeable "whoaaaa" in the middle of Datsyuk's move. After the play had finished, the Detroit fan sitting next to me said "He'll do something like that three or four times a game. He doesn't always score, but you get your money's worth". There aren't many players you can say that about, Datsyuk is one.
His defensive prowess is well known (three Selke trophies, a career avg. of +24 per 82 GP...remarkable for a forward), but Datsyuk's offensive game may be underrated because he's been playing in the shadow of Ovechkin and Crosby for the past five seasons. He had two-straight 100-point seasons before dipping to only 77 in 2009-2010, but seemed on pace for a career-year in 10-11 until a wrist injury forced him to miss 20 games. Still, if Datsyuk puts together four of five more seasons of 90-100 points, he'll move up to Forsberg-level (or perhaps higher) on the Pyramid by the time his career is done.
If there was a knock on Datsyuk, it's that he tended to disappear come playoff time early in his career. Certainly, that is borne out by his underwhelming career PPG in the playoffs. One major asterisk to those numbers is that Datsyuk put up only 7 adjusted points in the 21-game run in his rookie season, when he wasn't expected to be an offensive contributor and was only getting about 10 minutes a game on the third and fourth line (imagine...Datsyuk on the fourth line! This is why Detroit wins Cups...they don't waste roster spots on Mike Browns and Colton Orrs). But Datsyuk had been underwhelming in the subsequent years, until he finally shaked off the playoff demons with a stellar 24 points in 22 games and a +13 during Detroit's Cup run. He was also one of the only (and I mean only) Russians to not pull a complete disappearing act during Canada's 7-3 demolition of Team Russia in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Datsyuk is back from his wrist injury at the time of this writing, healthy and productive as we've come to expect. In the 2011 playoffs, the Red Wings fell short, but Datsyuk was nothing short of brilliant. In Game 2 of the first round vs. Phoenix, he put forward the single greatest game I've seen by anyone since Lemieux, scoring a goal and three assists within the first 28 minutes and generating so many chances that he well could have had eight points by the end of the game with a few lucky bounces. It was dominance that not even Crosby has approached. He's the best two-way forward in the game, and has been for some time. And considering that Detroit appears to be an excellent team once more, Datsyuk may be adding another Stanley Cup ring or two to his resume before his career comes to an end. Either way, Datsyuk will be remembered as one of the key contributors to the Red Wings' run of dominance, and surely the most offensively gifted three-time Selke winner that the game has seen.
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