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Trying to determine the NHL's best — player, Swede, coach, Zamboni driver - is usually an exercise in imprecision. So much of the analysis is subjective, for starters. Can a player be any good if his team isn't? How much does offence enter into the equation? Is preventing a goal as important as scoring one?
In the end, the correct answer usually is that things can change from month-to-month, or week-to-week, and sometimes even from day-to-day, which is why the NHL has its player-of-the-week program.
But there could be an argument made that right now, as October draws to a close that the league's best player could be one that wasn't chosen until the 210th overall pick of the 1999 entry draft; who stands a modest 5-foot-11; who just turned 27 earlier this month and has quietly averaged more than a point-a-game in the two-plus seasons of the post-lockout NHL.
That would be the Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg who, after most of Canada went to sleep Sunday night, set up a goal by Tomas Holmstrom in what would eventually be a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. It was the Red Wings 12th game of the season and the 12th in which Zetterberg has picked up at least a point.
Related Information
- Daniel Alfredsson
- Sidney Crosby
- Pavel Datsyuk
- Johan Franzen
- Dominik Hasek
- Dany Heatley
- Tomas Holmstrom
- Kristian Huselius
- Jarome Iginla
- Vincent Lecavalier
- Vaclav Prospal
- Mikael Samuelsson
- Jason Spezza
- Martin St. Louis
- Joe Thornton
- Henrik Zetterberg
He is currently the NHL's point leader (with 21); is tied for first in assists (with 12); and is second in goals (with nine) on a Red Wings team that is first in the Western Conference (again), despite a slow start from goaltender Dominik Hasek (he is currently nursing a hip injury) and an early-season injury to Zetterberg's fellow Swede Johan Franzen that forced coach Mike Babcock to deviate from his pre-season plan of balancing his scoring lines. Instead, he loaded up his No. 1 unit and right now, you'd be hard-pressed to say whether Zetterberg, Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk or the Ottawa Senators' trio of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson is the most effective line in hockey.
It demonstrates too the value of occasionally putting all a team's scoring eggs in one basket.
"For us here, unfortunately, both Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen got hurt," said Zetterberg, in a telephone interview prior to the start of their three-game Western Canada road swing that continues Tuesday night in Edmonton. "That's why they put me and Pav and Homer back together and ever since then, we've been working good together. It's going to be fun to see, now that Sammy's back and the Mule (Franzen) is coming back too, what coach Babcock does."
What separates the Red Wings' top line from the others in the NHL is that all three players were chosen in the nether regions of the draft (Datsyuk 171st in 1998; Holmstrom 257th in 1994). Sometimes, a line such as the Tampa Bay Lightnings' Vincent Lecavalier, Vaclav Prospal and Martin St. Louis can have a couple of long shots deliver at the highest level, but Lecavalier at least was a No. 1 overall draft choice. Spezza and Heatley were selected second overall in their respective draft years. Rarely does it happen that three players, all of whom were long shots to play, not only made it, but made it at an elite level.
You could call it luck — and luck is an element of the equation to be sure — but it also demonstrates the value of developing players within a winning organization. None were overnight sensations. All took time to get to where they are now — and you could argue that Zetterberg was already on top of his game last February, when his back started to act up and he missed the final six weeks of the regular season. He came back in the playoffs and put on a credible performance, but never really found his stride or comfort level. It took most of the summer, working with a trainer for the first time, to get his health back again.
"It was tough there at the end of the regular season," he said. "I missed 19 games and came back for playoffs. The summer came at a good time. I did my rehab. I worked hard and I was able to do that. I feel healthy now. No complaints at all."
This isn't the first time Zetterberg has had a chance win a scoring title. Playing for Timra in Sweden during the lockout, he overhauled the Calgary Flames' Kristian Huselius on the final day of the regular season to win the Eliteserien scoring title.
Sidney Crosby may have something to say about the NHL scoring race before all is said and done, as will Joe Thornton and Jarome Iginla and others, but if Zetterberg can continue at or near this pace, he has a chance to become the first Red Wings' player since Gordie Howe (in 1962-63) to lead the league in scoring.
"It would be nice for anyone to have a chance to do that, but it's early," said Zetterberg. "If I'm in the same spot in 65 games, I'll be a little nervous, but right now, I don't think about that. I'm just happy to be going well. We're playing good. We've had a good start. I can't say anything more than that."
