Red Wings shut down Pavel Datsyuk for at least three weeks
Pavel Datsyuk has played with a nagging knee injury. (Dave Reginek/NHL/Getty Images)
In announcing the Red Wings' trade for Predators center David Legwand, Detroit general manager Ken Holland also revealed that center Pavel Datsyuk will miss the next three to four weeks with an injury to his left knee.
Holland said he and coach Mike Babcock met with Datsyuk on Saturday, but a decision to shut down the 11-year veteran for approximately at least three weeks was made in the last day.
"This thing with Pav really has come down within the last 24 hours," Holland said. "Pav was very frustrated at his inability to play the game the way he knows he can and the way he wants to play the game," Holland said. "We talked on Saturday about him possibly playing Tuesday in New Jersey and going to see a doctor today.
"I reached out to Pav again on Sunday and we met again on Monday. I think it became pretty obvious to Mike Babcock, (trainer) Piet Van Zant and to myself that Pav was frustrated and all we were gonna do is have an athlete that was, in our opinion, gonna get emotionally burned out.
When you can't do something that you know you can do at a level, it just grinds on you and grinds on you and grinds on you. So we made a decision that he wasn't going to go to New Jersey.
On Wednesday, Datsyuk saw the latest in a series of doctors who shared the opinion of previous examinations.
"A little more of an aggressive thinking on trying to rehab, so we're gonna go with that little more aggressive line of thinking," Holland said. "And if it doesn't work, then obviously we can have a conversation in the offseason or six weeks from now about maybe having some type of surgery.
"Right now we're hoping that this plan of attack is gonna allow us to wake up in three weeks -- three or four weeks -- and have Pav practicing and thinking about getting back in our lineup."
Datsyuk last played for the Wings just before the Olympic break. He captained Team Russia during the Olympics and worked hard off the ice, something doctors and the Wings plan to restrict over the next three weeks if not longer.
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