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Friday, February 28
 
Zetterberg's play lifts Hull, Wings

By Lindsay Berra
ESPN The Magazine

Brett Hull was in a legitimate scoring funk. He potted goal No. 699 on January 22 in Edmonton, then spent seven goal-less games banging on the door of the 700-club's fraternity house. He took 30 shots on goal, but the league's best shooter was getting stoned left and right, by both goalies and posts, and returned to the bench shift after shift shaking his head with a sardonic grin.

Henrik Zetterberg's 21 goals rank fourth on the Wings and first among NHL rookies.
Wings head coach Dave Lewis constantly juggles his lines due to injuries or offensive woes, but he refused to shake things up on Brett Hull's line. Lewis let Hull work out his kinks with 22-year-old rookie Henrik Zetterberg on his left wing and 24-year-old center Pavel Datsyuk playing the pivot. Perhaps it was the young wheels that sparked the 38-year-old Hull, a self-proclaimed "old goat," into action.

Hull joined Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and Mike Gartner (708) as just the sixth player in NHL history to net 700 goals in a February 10 tilt against the San Jose Sharks. Lewis was right -- if it ain't really broke, don't fix it.

In the 21 games since then, Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Hull have combined for 75 points and are a plus-36. Zetterberg has 11 goals and seven assists, is a plus-12, and was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for February.

"I know that I'm in a great situation and I want to stay there," says Hull. "I look at Hank (Zetterberg), and I see a first-year guy that has the skill, the composure, the savvy of the game."

And Hull wasn't the first to see it.

As one of only three non-NHLers on Team Sweden during the Olympics last February, Zetterberg so impressed Leafs' captain Mats Sundin with his shifty moves and on-ice vision that Sundin compared him to a young Peter Forsberg. In May, he led Sweden to a bronze medal at the World Championships with seven goals and five assists in eight games. Then, the Swedish Elite league awarded Zetterberg, their former Rookie of the Year, the Golden Puck as the League's Most Valuable Player. Timra, Zetterberg's team, retired his No. 20 before his departure to North America.

It is Zetterberg's versatility -- along with his amazing dekes -- that turns heads. He can play all three forward positions with equally staggering offensive skill, yet he backchecks mercilessly and kills penalties, traits not usually attributed to young Europeans.

The Wings took Zetterberg with their fourth pick in the seventh round (210th overall) of the 1999 entry draft. Lucky for the Wings, the rest of the league was so awed by super-Swede twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin (they went second and third overall), that Zetterberg's talent was grossly underestimated. (He currently has more points than both Sedins).

Entering Wings camp in October, Zetterberg's only drawback was his size. Even after lifting weights and chowing down all summer -- "I ate a lot," he says. "All of the time, I think, I ate." -- he's just 6-feet, 180 pounds. But, he can take a hit. The slippery Swede still managed to head into corners and come out with the puck, leaving bigger guys in his wake, and he still managed to fight through the defense to dazzle the coaches with his breakaway moves. His three goals and four assists in seven preseason games left Wings brass impressed enough that Zetterberg made the big club without spending a single day in the minors.

Wings teammates and fellow Swedes Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom eased Zetterberg's transition to North America off the ice, but he didn't need too much adjustment to the NHL's smaller ice surfaces. Imported players often feel cramped on the shrunken rinks, but Zetterberg's net-seeking eyes saw only a land of oppportunity. "When you're at the blue line," he said with a smile, "you have an opportunity to score."

And Zetterberg has done plenty of that -- his 21 goals and 40 points are first among rookies. Of course, it doesn't hurt to be skating with an old goat like Hull.

The Magazine's Lindsay Berra can be e-mailed at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.








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