2008-09 SEASON IN REVIEW: Zetterberg has “Down Year” after Last Seasons Career Highs

By Chris Turner, Zetterbergfan.com, April 13^th, 2008

The Detroit Redwings finished the regular season on Sunday with a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, losing their last three games, going 3-6-1 in their final 10 games. Detroit finished with the 2^nd seed in the Western Conference with a 51-21-10 record and 112 points for the season. They will face the 7th seeded Columbus Blue Jackets on April 16th in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Prior to the season I predicted 58 regular season wins, 124 points, Presidents Trophy, defeating the San Jose Sharks in the Conference Finals, and going on to defeat the Montreal Canadians in six games to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Obviously, I slightly over-estimated the dominance of the Wings, but still like my Conference Finals pick. Now, I see the Wings up against Boston in the Stanley Cup Finals.

One of the Red Wings star forwards, Henrik Zetterberg, had a down year statistically, based on everyone’s (including my own) expectations after last seasons career highs (a team-leading 43 goals, 49 assists, 92 points, and a +30 in 75 games.)

Zetterberg set his sights pretty high prior to the start of the season, stating to the Swedish media that he would like to aim for Hakan Loobs mark of 50 goals, the most ever by a Swede. It wasn’t an outrageous goal, based on finishing fifth in the league last season with 43 goals and leading Detroit in goal scoring for the last two seasons.

However, netting only 31 total goals this year, Zetterberg ended up fourth on the team behind Marian Hossa (40), Johan Franzen (34), and Pavel Datsyuk (32) and tied with eight other players for just 27th in the league. Zetterberg did have a team-high 12 power-play goals (which is only good for a multi-player tie for 17^th best in the NHL), and 309 total shots (5^th in the league).

On a more positive note: with his 31 goals this season, Zetterberg has scored at least 30 goals a year for the past four seasons. He has now passed Mickey Redmond for 17^th place on the Red Wing’s All-time goal-scoring leaders list.

While Henrik’s goal scoring luck wasn’t quite as good as last year, his playmaking ability did not decline much at all. He looked particularly good delivering a lot of outstanding passes and was able to get 42 assists (tied for 38^th in the NHL), only seven less than last season. Henrik passed the 200 career assists milestone with his 20^th assist this year.

Z hit two other major milestones this season, playing his 400th career game and also recording his 400th career point. Having played 432 regular season games in the NHL, Zetterberg now ranks 19th on Detroit’s All-time scoring leaders list with 405 points (183 goals and 222 assists). This year he passed Hall-of-Famer Igor Larionov.

Zetterberg's 73 total points ranked 28th in the league but his plus-minus of 13 was merely above average (67^th in the league). It is the worst +/- of his career since he had just a +6 during his rookie year (2002-03).

Why? This season, it was painfully obvious that the Red Wings weren’t playing the tight checking, shot-limiting defensive games that got them through the Stanley Cup Finals last season. Particularly noticeable were defensemen committing horrible turnovers in front of mediocre goaltending. Strangely, it has really seemed to affect Zetterberg, a guy known for his two-way domination. He looked bad on +/- in a lot of box scores this season.

The addition of Marian Hossa, signed as free agent from the Penguins this off-season, replaced Zetterberg on Detroit’s top line with Datsyuk for most of the year, a move that is not only limiting Henrik’s ability to get as many points, but is also really hurting his defensive numbers.

Watching him closely, it’s clear that Hank hasn’t lost his superior defensive skills. He still skates aggressively, gets in good defensive positions, rarely takes lazy penalties, and fights for the puck along the boards. Simply put, this guy hasn’t stopped playing his heart out since he came into the league. The decline in his plus/minus is certainly a case of Z being the victim of circumstances and adjusting to different 2^nd tier line-mates.

There is no doubt that being on the second line with numerous combinations of line-mates which have often included Valtteri Filppula (+9), Jiri Hudler (+7), Mikael Samuelsson (even), and Dan Cleary (even). Zetterberg has had no opportunity to develop chemistry with a set pair of wingers, which has got to affect defensive coverage. More-so than that, NOT playing on the top unit with Datsyuk (+34), Tomas Holmstrom (+18), and Norris Trophy winning defenseman and team captain Niklas Lidstrom (+31) is hurting Z statistically.

Some might argue that, in the past, Z was the beneficiary of being on a line with great players, which is true. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that despite Pavel Datsyuk being last season’s Selke award winner for the leagues best defensive forward, it is Zetterberg who is likely considered by most to be the best defensive forward in the team Need evidence?  Look no further than game situations: short-handed 5-on-3 penalty kills, key face-offs in their own zone, etc. Which forward does Detroit head coach Mike Babcock more-often-than-not put on the ice to defend against opponents top scoring lines? Henrik Zetterberg.

In six complete NHL seasons, Zetterberg has totals of +6, +15, +29, +26, +30, and +13. While his numbers are down this year, it’s hard to believe that Hank will remain that low for long. Even on the second line, he should be able to develop chemistry with two of the wingers and eventually get a higher plus/minus.

Another example of Zetterberg’s worth to the team is management’s position on getting him re-signed for 12 more years. And this January the deal was done! Henrik Zetterberg is a Detroit Red Wing for life. He proved his commitment once again, by signing a 12 year, 73 million dollar contract with the club. Hank stated, “I'm going to be here for the rest of my career and I'm looking forward to spending 12 more years here.”

You can’t give enough credit to Z for staying loyal to the team, easily taking about 3 million less per season than he could have made had he tested the free-agent market on July 1st. The same can be said for the Red Wings, locking up a franchise player and team leader for the rest of his career. #40 is under contract until the end of the 2020-21 season, when he will be 40 years old.

This deal shows Zetterberg’s worth to the franchise. It is the longest and largest contract ever awarded in team history. General Manager Ken Holland has gone on record stating that the Red Wings plan on making Zetterberg the team captain in the future when Lidstrom retires. Holland had stated every time he is asked that Zetterberg was his number one priority for contract extension. This was over re-signing Hossa or Franzen. Henrik had always said that he would like to spend his entire career in Detroit and would take much less money than he could have testing free-agency to do so.

Zetterberg came into the start of the season with no reports of him having any issues with his lower back or wrist tendonitis, which have both been chronic problems for the past couple of years. Henrik was able to remain relatively healthy missing two games with a sore groin and three games with unrelated back spasms. This should put some minds at ease when it comes to that long-term contract. If his ailments are a problem, he plays through them, which is a sign of true grit!

I think Zetterberg will step-it-up a notch in the playoffs again this year. I’m not sure we are going to see another Conn Smyth winning performance, I think you can expect a strong showing and some increased point production compared to the regular season.