Pavel Datsyuk Needs To Find His Game If Detroit Red Wings Hope To Make Playoffs

Who is this person in the No. 13 winged wheel, and what has he done with Pavel Datsyuk?

Datsyuk, once one of the most dynamic and feared forwards on an open sheet of ice, has become timid and rarely makes use of his famed dekes.

The defensive play and responsibility is there, but the offensive flare and aggressiveness is gone.

Never before have I seen Datsyuk on so many one-on-one occasions decide to pull back and look to pass rather than press forward, make a defenseman look foolish, and turn in a highlight-reel goal.

Fifty-five games into the season, Datsyuk has 45 points. He's on pace to score 65 points, his lowest point total since 2002-03.

Now, point totals like this could easily be explained away given the team’s recent plague of injuries. A player of Datsyuk’s caliber, however, should be able to shoulder a load regardless of how many second-line players are missing.

He turned in one of the most bi-polar games we’ve ever seen last Thursday. He chipped in two goals against Minnesota, but his overall play was uncharacteristically sloppy.

His puck control was awful. I’ve never seen him lose a puck just as he was starting to take off in the neutral zone. Once or twice would be forgivable, but he did it several times with no one pestering him. Then, his inexplicable tumble behind Detroit’s net led to Minnesota’s second goal of the game.

Even his two goals were uncharacteristic: one backhanded rebound and one redirection of a Nicklas Lidstrom shot made him look more like Tomas Holmstrom than his usual dynamic self.

While he did earn himself third star of the game that night, turnovers and seemingly uninspired play have been more typical of this season than multi-point games.

What might account for this sudden dip in play and production?

The past two seasons, Datsyuk has averaged at least three shots a game. This season, he’s down to 2.4. That’s certainly going to account for a lack of goals, but it doesn’t exactly explain his sudden timidity in the offensive zone.

At age 31, he is one of the team’s elder statesmen. He can be expected to slow a little, but we’ve seen players his age and older produce at a high level. Holmstrom is six years older and has scored more this season. Any Wings fan would have expected at least three more All-Star worthy years from Datsyuk.

Has the league figured him out? It seems most teams have found the defensive strategy to contain Datsyuk and keep him off a score sheet: play him physically, take away his time and space, and don’t allow him to beat you. Larger defensemen are finding it easier to push him around and get him off the puck than in years past.

While both of those theories may hold water, I don’t think they’re the most pertinent. Given the way this season has played out thus far, I think he’s injured and isn’t telling anyone.

With all the injuries the team has suffered this year, it wouldn’t surprise me if Datsyuk is one of the walking wounded.

Then why hasn’t he taken some time off to heal? Losing Datsyuk for any amount of time would not only hurt statistically, but morally as well. Watching him battle much larger defensemen has become commonplace, and most likely a rallying point for the rest of the team.

If Datsyuk was knocked out of the lineup, who would the team have left to look up to? Lidstrom is playing well defensively, but is clearly a shell of his former self. Draper and Maltby are turning in lackluster years, to say the least. With Datsyuk out, this team might have been in an even deeper hole than it is now.

So, until the end of the season or (heaven forbid) another injury forces him out, all we have is speculation and rumor to explain Datsyuk’s sudden change in style.

With eight points in his last six games, perhaps Datsyuk is finally finding his groove. If the Wings expect to have any shot at making the playoffs, they better hope this is a sign of things to come.