Datsyuk Going To His Actual Home. In Russia. Finally.

[KasperTheGrittyGhost]

The Pavel Datsyuk contract dump trade was actually a big mistake for the Red Wings - NHL Numbers

Funny article.

Kind of everything in our normal reality is THE exact opposite.

Article is pretty old. Even the most fervent Cholo haters like Pronman are calling the player swap a draw now.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Article is pretty old. Even the most fervent Cholo haters like Pronman are calling the player swap a draw now.

Which makes the trade a HUGE win for Detroit. It was never anything less than a win. Them going ape crap in FA has nothing to do with the deal. It is a separate set of transactions.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Look, I'm pissed at him breaking contract and I will never not be pissed at that. I don't know how anyone can minimize that. Yes, it's lucky that the timing meant we weren't competing for a Cup, and yes, it's lucky that we made a miracle trade to turn his cap hit into a positive, but those things weren't up to him. What was up to him, was he promised to play for money, then suddenly got homesick and left sticking us with a massive hole. There's no excuse for that.

That said, I'd consider taking him back. He'd make our team look a lot better and I'm sure all our kids would love to play with a great playmaker. I imagine it would probably help the development of everyone he plays with.

But I doubt it happens anyway.

 

[SirloinUB]

I don't know how anyone can minimize that.

Not trying to sway your opinion but to answer your question, It's just human nature. People's work and family priorities are constantly shuffling. Hockey players are no different. He gave us his best years and I can't hold it against him for wanting to play in Russia and be closer to family.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

And when he left he was still better than 90% of the roster.

100% of our roster.

 

[lilidk]

I remember when he just joined the wings , he played with Hull , he learned from him how to pass, how onetime. It was the best shooter at the time. Imagine Datsyuk next year with Zadina. It will be great to learn from the best. Both Zadina and Pavel are not so fast , but shify and crafty . We have yang talent , they need to learn from the best. Hope you understand me

 

[Flowah]

suddenly got homesick

He didn't "suddenly" get homesick. He'd been homesick the whole time. We'd been reading stories about it for *years* before he finally up and left. And it was getting to the point where his body couldn't handle an NHL season and we weren't competitive so why bother?

I get being mad that he didn't play out his contract because a contract is a contract and people should keep their word. But I don't think he hurt the team. Even if we hadn't been able to offload the contract to Arizona I don't think it hurts that much. Oh no, we have dead cap space. If only we'd been able to use it we could have been a contender.

 

[Frk It]

Not trying to sway your opinion but to answer your question, It's just human nature. People's work and family priorities are constantly shuffling. Hockey players are no different. He gave us his best years and I can't hold it against him for wanting to play in Russia and be closer to family.

I feel similarly, but everyone is different.

Some people can have a great 15 year relationship with someone, then have a rough breakup, and they just focus on the breakup because it was the last thing that happened and it sucked.

To me the good outweighs the bad by so much, that it’s whatever. I think he handled it the wrong way, but it doesn’t negate everything that came before it for me, and that’s more important in the big picture.

 

[Winger98]

He didn't "suddenly" get homesick. He'd been homesick the whole time. We'd been reading stories about it for *years* before he finally up and left. And it was getting to the point where his body couldn't handle an NHL season and we weren't competitive so why bother?

I get being mad that he didn't play out his contract because a contract is a contract and people should keep their word. But I don't think he hurt the team. Even if we hadn't been able to offload the contract to Arizona I don't think it hurts that much. Oh no, we have dead cap space. If only we'd been able to use it we could have been a contender.

then he shouldn't have been pushing for any sort of term on the deal. I think he wanted more money than we could fit under the cap, so he was okay adding the extra years to get the amount he wanted in the one year he actually wanted to play. it was only after Holland essentially blackmailed him with the threat of contesting the contract and locking him out of playing in Russia that Datsyuk showed up for that second season. And he looked less than enthused for chunks of that season.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Personally I have no ill will towards Datsyuk, but to play devils advocate, he did leave mid contract while Fedorov left after his contract expired and signed an offer sheet. You can easily argue that what Datsyuk did was worse, but since he comes off as such a nice guy, people (myself included lol) let him off the hook.

I think that's a lot of it. He's a talented player who came off very soft spoken and like a nice guy. Swap almost any Wings player with what Datsyuk did and I don't think the fans reaction would be as generous.

And frankly during Fedorov's stint with the Wings, especially early in his career, there was still a lot of bias against Russian players. Even among Wings fans.

Datsyuk not being able to speak English very well and being soft spoken came off as more sweet but in Fed's day when he was sort of the same way it was viewed as more standoffish.

 

[dragonballgtz]

Wasn't the narrative of his last contract was Holland was the one pushing for additional year?

I would welcome back Datsyuk in an instant.

 

[Bondurant]

Love this guy but he'll be 41 when next season starts. Not a signing I want Yzerman to make even considering Datsyuk's legend status. Doubt it would happen anyways.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Wasn't the narrative of his last contract was Holland was the one pushing for additional year?

I would welcome back Datsyuk in an instant.

It was reported that Datsyuk and Milstein asked for five years at the opening of the negotiations on his eventual three year deal. So no he wanted more.

@Winger98 also basically nailed how I have been told they came to view that contract. That it was all about him leveraging the big pay year and skipping out only despite having been told and warned that it was a 35+ contract when they asked for a five year deal Datsyuk tried to play dumb when ditching the contract after the first season. It wasn't a cute act, he used it often in terms of his lost in translation act, but people that know him know he is one of the more cerebral pros to come through that dressing room. That Datsyuk is a smart man and it really didn't scan at all. It was a very bad look that is what he tried, plus mailing in significant chunks of his final season before outright quitting didn't help.

Still if this were true, I am sure they would talk to him. I just doubt we ever see him play here again.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Wasn't the narrative of his last contract was Holland was the one pushing for additional year?

I would welcome back Datsyuk in an instant.

No.

Datsyuk originally wanted a 5 year deal. Holland wanted to keep Datsyuk. I don't remember Holland's preference, but it most certainly was Milstein and Datsyuk pushing for more and more years (and therefore more and more money)

I'd welcome him back, but certainly don't make excuses for his scumbag behavior in breaking his contract. I can understand being homesick, but he had a signed, iron-clad agreement and was fighting for years and salary (if the rumor is to be believed that he wanted out like a week after signing it) that he was never going to play for.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

No.

Datsyuk originally wanted a 5 year deal. Holland wanted to keep Datsyuk. I don't remember Holland's preference, but it most certainly was Milstein and Datsyuk pushing for more and more years (and therefore more and more money)

I'd welcome him back, but certainly don't make excuses for his ******* behavior in breaking his contract. I can understand being homesick, but he had a signed, iron-clad agreement and was fighting for years and salary (if the rumor is to be believed that he wanted out like a week after signing it) that he was never going to play for.

huh, scrum sack is an autoflagged word. Sweet.

 

[Frk It]

Nvm

 

[Bench]

Can we just lock this already or what....

Calm down, Putin. We have due process around here.

 

[PelagicJoe]

The actual quote from his agent is “this isn’t something he has entertained”.

So spare me another one of these threads, please...

Exactly. It's a "what if?" article that's nothing more than clickbait. He's not coming back.

 

[Frk It]

Delete- bench is right

 

[Flowah]

So does Datsyuk get paid for those years he didn't play? I thought the cap remained but the money didn't get paid. How does pushing for more years equal more money unless it gets paid regardless of whether he skips town or not.

 

[Winger98]

So does Datsyuk get paid for those years he didn't play? I thought the cap remained but the money didn't get paid. How does pushing for more years equal more money unless it gets paid regardless of whether he skips town or not.

It allows the contract to be backdived more to bring down the cap hit. So if Datsyuk really only wanted to play one year, but he wanted to get paid really really well for doing it, the only way to accomplish that was to have extra years bringing that cap hit down. The deal he signed had a cap hit of $7.5 million, but he got $10 million that first year. there's no telling how his five year offers were structured, but I wouldn't have been surprised to see the first year grabbing ~$12 million before sliding way down to grab that $7.5 million cap hit.

The total value of the contract possibly didn't matter because he never planned on seeing it through. All that really mattered was getting as much in that first year as possible before trying to jump ship.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

So does Datsyuk get paid for those years he didn't play? I thought the cap remained but the money didn't get paid. How does pushing for more years equal more money unless it gets paid regardless of whether he skips town or not.

He doesn't get paid. I think he's technically a suspended player on the Coyotes roster for failing to report?

 

[Konnan511]

I'd welcome him back, but the quotes indicate the title of this thread is the complete opposite.

I have no idea why people are still angry at Fedorov except for the fact they've never researched a damn thing in their life. the Datsyuk dislike makes sense, but I still don't hold anything against him. Family is thicker than money.

 

[tfong]

Feel like it’s already been tarnished just a little bit.

For some people it is, but I mean. I was ok with him leaving for family reasons.

But him coming back would make it kinda worse but only in my opinion.

 

[GMR]

Are we going to pretend he's not in his 40's?