Pavel Datsyuk Gone a Month for Detroit Red Wings: Dark Cloud with Silver Lining?

Make no mistake about it, losing Pavel Datsyuk for four weeks is a monumental blow to the Detroit Red Wings.

Not only is he utterly irreplaceable in Detroit, there's a precious few (if any at all) players on the planet that could do what Pavel Datsyuk does on a nightly basis.

When Datsyuk slammed his right hand into the ice after tripping over Mikael Samuelsson during Wednesday night's game against the Vancouver Canucks, what broke was more than just one player's hand.

An entire team's ability to win with regularity may have been injured as well.

Datsyuk has easily been the Wings' most valuable player this season, not only leading his team in points, but continuing to dominate defensively as well.

As of the puck drop on Wednesday evening, Datsyuk was on pace for a 100-point season, the first of his career. 

Now, that milestone is all but unreachable, at least this season.

Yes, if you're a Red Wings fan and heard the words "out" and "four weeks" mentioned after Datsyuk's name following the Wings' overtime win on Wednesday, whatever joy was created by your team besting one of the hottest teams in the West turned quickly to nausea.

Detroit winning games without Pavel Datsyuk in the lineup is going to be a tall order.

However, it won't be impossible. In fact, losing their best player may eventually yield some positives for the Red Wings.

Over the past 10 games, the Red Wings have been mired in a bit of a slump.

The once red-hot line of Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Todd Bertuzzi has grown stone cold and as a result, the trio has been scattered throughout the rest of Detroit's lineup.

The surefire offensive duo of Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg became less and less sure over enough games that head coach Mike Babcock decided to split the two up on different lines.

This has yielded only moderate success since.

Additionally, forward Jiri Hudler, who was pegged to be Detroit's number one secondary scorer (if there is such a thing) continues to struggle through the worst season of his career (and according to him, that includes Pee-Wee).

Slumping, stumbling, stuttering; whatever you want to call it, the Red Wings haven't been the "Red Wings" for most of December.

Still, what success they have had over this period has usually had Pavel Datsyuk at the center of it.

From simply setting the pace of action with his shiftiness and defensive tenacity, to setting up teammates, to scoring goals on his own, Datsyuk has been the straw stirring the drink in Motown this season.

What's more, his teammates have seemed quite comfortable allowing him to be that straw.

Now, that straw is busted and isn't going to do much but sit outside the glass for the next 30 days.

Does this mean the party's over in Detroit?

Not exactly.

One needs only to look to the performance of Datsyuk's best friend and on-ice partner Henrik Zetterberg to see that perhaps the Wings will use Datsyuk's injury as an excuse to do more than they've been doing.

Upon learning his friend would not return to the game, Zetterberg promptly set himself to the task of doing whatever he could to put the game away for the Red Wings.

Once Datsyuk was on the trainer's table, Zetterberg went on to have a three-point night, the last of which doubling as the overtime game-winning goal.

Had Zetterberg and the Red Wings failed to do much after losing Datsyuk and eventually lost the game, they would have had a ready-made, and quite acceptable, excuse for doing so.

However, they appeared to use the loss of Datsyuk as a challenge to be better, rather than an obstacle over which to stumble.

Over the next month, they will need to find a way to do this on a regular basis.

In addition to Zetterberg, Datsyuk's absence provides an outstanding opportunity for Franzen, Filppula, Bertuzzi and especially Hudler to become difference makers for their team by shouldering some of the load that Datsyuk usually hoists on his shoulders.

There figures to be more ice and ice-time to come to Detroit in January.

If these players can put it to good use, then Datsyuk could return to a team flying quite fine without him and only looking for him to take them higher.

The Red Wings can win without Pavel Datsyuk, this is certain. 

They already proved they could do it on Wednesday night, now they just need to prove it a dozen more times.

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