Datsyuk Is Earning His Wings

There are no flashy cars. There has yet to be a GQ magazine cover. Tabloid TV shows haven’t been “live at the scene” with trashy reports on his personal life.

Clearly Pavel Datsyuk is no Sergei Fedorov.

Off the ice, anyway.

On it is another matter.

“One on one, he’s scary,” Mathieu Dandenault said. “Even in practice, I mean. We get to see moves that you don’t see anywhere else.”

Said Brendan Shanahan: Any time you can get out on the ice with him, something usually happens.”

Those Detroit Red Wing players are talking about Datsyuk, not Fedorov.

It would have been impossible to find anyone to compare Datsyuk to Fedorov before the season began. Besides hockey, they have only one thing in common -- both are Russian.

Yet, at this point, there is no comparison. Datsyuk has been far more productive, which is a big reason the Red Wings lead the Central Division, whereas Fedorov’s Mighty Ducks are last in the Pacific Division.

The numbers don’t lie.

Datsyuk has 21 goals. Fedorov has 14.

Datsyuk has 45 points. Fedorov has 29.

Datsyuk has had 15 multipoint games, tops in the NHL. Fedorov has had six.

In fact, about the only category in which Fedorov holds the lead is salary.

Fedorov makes $8 million, Datsyuk $1.5 million.

The bottom-dollar-line is, Fedorov has yet to be “the leading player” he proclaimed himself just after the ink had dried on his five-year, $40-million contract last summer. He is on pace for a career low in points for a full season, and the Ducks are rapidly approaching oblivion.

Meanwhile, filling Fedorov’s skates in Detroit is the 25-year-old Datsyuk, who was the 171st player taken in the 1998 draft. He has 21 goals -- two shy of the combined total for his first two seasons -- and is fifth in the NHL with 45 points.

“I’m sure [Pavel] was looking at Sergei moving on as a bit of a challenge for himself,” Red Wing forward Kirk Maltby said. “You don’t need to speak perfect English to understand that people were wondering how we were going to be with Sergei gone. Pavel might have taken that on as a bit of a challenge, to step up and show he is capable of filling that gap. Obviously, up to this point he has proven he is capable.”

That prompts the question: Would the Red Wings swap Datsyuk for Fedorov right now?

Brett Hull had an answer to that way back in training camp, saying, “Pavel’s my man. I told him, ‘Sergei’s not here anymore. You’re the man.’ There is no sitting back and saying, ‘I’m young.’ ”

Datsyuk wasted no time in growing this season, and Hull has latched on, knowing a good thing when he sees it.

When Hull scored his 732nd goal, passing Marcel Dionne, he was asked when he thought he’d slow down. He laughed and said, “I’m slowing down day by day. Thank God for Pavel.”

Which stirs envy among teammates.

“Well, everybody wants to play with [Pavel],” Shanahan said. “I think he knows that. So far, one guy’s got a pretty good lock on him. We’d all like to pry [Pavel] free.”

The Red Wings have the NHL’s highest point total, and Datsyuk deserves much of the credit.

Granted, he has benefited from a deeper talent pool -- skating with Hull tends to boost one’s point totals. But he was hardly overburdened when the Red Wings needed someone to carry them.

When the team’s injury situation was reaching drastic proportions in November, Datsyuk went on a 14-game scoring spree, getting 12 goals and 26 points. The Red Wings went 10-2-1-1 in that stretch and took charge in the Central Division.

“With all the injuries we have had, he has won some games for us single-handedly,” Maltby said.

Something that the Ducks have rarely been able to say about Fedorov.

Goalie of the Moment

Phoenix Coach Bobby Francis got the “well, duh” question of the week when he was asked whether Brian Boucher would start in goal Friday against Minnesota.

“Hey, I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid,” Francis said.

Boucher had turned in four consecutive shutouts before that game and made it No. 5 against the Wild. He stopped 21 shots in a 2-0 victory, breaking the modern record of four consecutive shutouts, set by Montreal’s Bill Durnan in 1949.

“When you really look at this record, it’s unbelievable,” Francis told reporters Saturday. “Five straight shutouts. It’s tough to put it into perspective.... It is a very special record.”

It is, but it is only five games in an 82-game season. The trick for the Coyotes will be to capitalize on this streak, as the Ducks did on goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s streak of 237 minutes 7 seconds in December 2002.

Boucher is aware of the bigger picture.

“I’m certainly not going to get too excited over this,” he said after beating Minnesota. “This is just a nice stretch we’re having right now. It would be nice if we could do this for 82 games a year, but it doesn’t work that way, and eventually the streak will end.”

It did Sunday. Boucher gave up the Thrashers’ goal in a 1-1 tie with Atlanta, leaving him with a 332:01 shutout streak, a modern-day record.

Still, questions remain.

Do the Coyotes, who have climbed to eighth place in the Western Conference, trust Boucher, who was a third-stringer when the season began? If so, are they now going to trade veteran Sean Burke? And if they do, is Colorado General Manager Pierre Lacroix’s number on speed dial?

A Golden Future?

What to make of Team USA, gold-medal winner in the World Junior Championships last week, will play out over time, depending on how the young players do in future international competitions.

But Mike Eaves, who coached the team to the first gold medal for the U.S. at the juniors, says it is exceptional.

“I think this is one of those special groups,” said Eaves, who has headed the U.S. national team development program for two years. “One of the contributing factors in them being successful was the fact there was a core group of boys that had been together for the under-18s, so they knew each other intimately. The coaching staff knew them. There’s that trust there.”

Eaves coached that team to the gold medal at the World Under-18 Championships in 2002. Still, Eaves said not to look for any of these players on Team USA for next summer’s World Cup or the 2006 Olympics.

“That’s another quantum leap for these boys,” Eaves said. “It would have to take a very special situation for a young man to be asked to those teams.”

One-Timers

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board has named a new school in Peterborough, Canada, after longtime NHL coach Roger Neilson, who died of cancer in June. Neilson was extremely active in community activities.

“The committee recommended naming the school after Roger Neilson because of the many contributions that Mr. Neilson made to the community in his lifetime,” said Sherry Summersides, superintendent of school operations.

The city of Peterborough had previously renamed a street Roger Neilson Way.

The news that Mario Lemieux would undergo hip surgery and sit out the rest of the season was a blow to Pittsburgh’s competitiveness, but it was a financial windfall for the cash-strapped franchise. The announcement was made as the 38-year-old Lemieux was to sit out his 30th game, the point where insurance pays 80% of the $5.25 million he is to make this season. That will save the Penguins more than $4 million.

Darryl Sutter, Calgary’s coach and general manager, confirmed last week that he was considering leaving coaching after this season to concentrate on running the team.

“A lot has to do with the [collective bargaining agreement],” Sutter told reporters. “It’s no big deal.”

What is a big deal is the Flames’ turnaround under Sutter. In his first full year as coach, Sutter has the Flames, who have not made the playoffs for seven seasons, in sixth place in the Western Conference.

Florida’s Nathan Horton scored on a penalty shot Thursday, becoming the youngest player, at 18 years 224 days, in NHL history to do so.