Detroit Red Wings: Pavel Datsyuk to retire from NHL after playoffs

Pavel Datsyuk announced his intention to retire in a interview with the Detroit Free Press. What does this mean for the Detroit Red Wings going forward?

The Detroit Red Wings head to the playoffs with even more motivation now. One of their leaders Pavel Datsyuk announced today his intention to retire from the NHL after this season.

In a interview with Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, Datsyuk says his heart is in his homeland of Russia. He has had a desire to finish his career in Russia since the lockout in 2012.

It’s admirable that he wants to return home but the Red Wings face a tough decision now after the playoffs end. Datsyuk has one more year left on his three year contract that he signed after the 2013 season with a 7.5 million cap hit. Now his agent says the decision isn’t final and the Red Wings aren’t commenting.

But the issue, is if he does retire, which I think he will, the Red Wings still have to pay the last year of his contract due to Datsyuk signing the deal when he was 35. Even worse, his cap hit doesn’t go away so the Red Wings will be stuck with $7.5 million of dead money on their cap.

But the Red Wings can get rid of the contract if they’re smart and lucky. They could trade his rights to a team looking to get to the cap floor – a team like the Arizona Coyotes comes to mind.

General Manager Ken Holland put this team in a tough position by signing Datsyuk to a three year deal when Datsyuk himself admitted he wanted to go year by year.

Holland has made a lot of bad decisions lately starting with signing Johan Franzen instead of Marian Hossa after the 2009 season. He also never had a backup plan for when Zach Parise went to the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2011.

The Red Wings have been lucky to make the playoffs the last couple years but Holland has to start getting criticized here. If the Red Wings can’t or won’t move Datsyuk’s contract then Holland needs to be held to the fire.

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Ken Holland always stresses loyalty and that is going to be his downfall in Detroit. Ken Holland’s “loyalty” is the reason why Dan Cleary has been under contract the last three years even though his play suggests he’s been done for two years. Loyalty is the reason why Holland signed Mikael Samuelsson again a few years ago.

Loyalty is the reason Holland signed Datsyuk to a three year deal knowing full well that Datsyuk wanted to do year to year contracts similar to what Nicklas Lidstrom did.

Now the Red Wings, who should’ve been able to pursue Steven Stamkos this offseason will be limited if they can’t get rid of Datsyuk’s contract.

The fanbase shouldn’t be angry at Pavel Datsyuk; Ken Holland is the reason why the Red Wings are in this mess. He’s made plenty of good decisions but lately his bad decisions are far outweighing any good decisions he’s made.

With the playoffs starting on Wednesday the Red Wings need to get out of the first round at least. Since the Red Wings loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the finals in 2009, the Red Wings haven’t been to the Conference finals and have lost in the first round in three of the last four years.

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The Red Wings have a bright future but Holland needs to be smarter about his moves or else this Red Wings team will hover in mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

The playoffs start Wednesday and Red Wings fans need to cherish this time seeing Datsyuk play and then hard decisions will be made this offseason.