Wings' Henrik Zetterberg Recharged, Ready
By Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News, September 3rd, 2010
Chris Osgood took a shot off of his blocker and directed the puck, about head high, at Henrik Zetterberg
Game on, boys.
A number of Red Wings
"It's been a while since we had the chance to start the year, and we both look forward to it," Zetterberg said. "We talked about it this summer and we want to get things rolling again."
Datsyuk attended Zetterberg's wedding in July to Swedish television star Emma Andersson.
Asked whether his preference is to play with Datsyuk, Zetterberg grinned broadly then laughed and said, "I think you know the answer to that."
Zetterberg, who turns 30 on Oct. 9, had 23 goals and 47 assists for the Wings last season. Face-offs aside, he had a stellar playoffs, with 15 points (seven goals) in 12 games. But the goal total during the regular season was his third-lowest, and his overall performance below the standard Zetterberg says he establishes, and what is expected of him by others.
"I want to play better," he said. "I want to produce more and help the team more. And I feel a big hunger and I am eager to come back and play hockey again."
Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said nagging injuries didn't help Zetterberg.
"You know, he had his injuries as well, last season, and I think Hank is going to come out with a good start," Lidstrom said.
The extra month off is something Zetterberg plainly relishes.
"It's been many years since we had this long of a break, and I stayed in Detroit for three weeks after the season and basically did nothing," he said. "And when I was ready to work out, it was still about June 1, and so you have the whole summer to do the workouts and get ready for the season. And I think that's important to have."
The physical drain of playing in the Stanley Cup Finals the two previous years and the Olympics in February was not as difficult as grappling with the mental fatigue, Zetterberg said.
"It's been a lot of hockey in the last three years," he said. "Just to have an extra month to go away from hockey and think about something else. Now, when we were in the middle of July, you just want to get back"
Andersson will join Zetterberg in Metro Detroit next week, as she has each of the past three seasons. And Zetterberg said that while he considers his few months in Sweden to be time "at home," he also feels he is returning "home" when his bride comes back to Michigan.
"You miss home, here, too, you know?" he said. "You have all of August, when you just want to come back to this life. It is fun to go back home, in Sweden. But then you want to go back home, here, again."
Red Wings Forward Henrik Zetterberg's Summer Included Wedding, Home
By George Sipple, Free Press, September 3rd, 2010
It was a summer like no other for Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg.
In addition to a longer stretch of time off than he has been accustomed to -- after the Wings were eliminated in five games by the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference semifinals -- Zetterberg married Emma Andersson in her hometown of Molle, Sweden.
"It was a good summer," said Zetterberg, among a group of Wings who participated in an informal skate at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday. "The wedding turned out great. Had a blast for three days; perfect weather, and fun group was there."
Zetterberg, 29, said the extra time off this summer resulted in more time to prepare for the upcoming season, something he didn't have when the Wings were coming off back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009.
"Been many years since we had this long of a break," Zetterberg said. "I stayed here in Detroit for three weeks after the season and basically did nothing.
"You had the whole summer to do your workouts and really get ready for the season. I think that's important to have, and we haven't had that chance the last few years."
Zetterberg admitted he was mentally drained at the end of last season.
"It's been a lot of hockey the last three years," he said. "Just to have an extra month to go away from hockey and think about something else. Now in the middle of July you just want to get back."
Zetterberg had 23 goals and 47 assists in 74 games last season. It was the fewest goals he has scored in a season since scoring 15 in his second season with the Wings, 2003-04.
"I want to play better," Zetterberg said. "I want to produce more and help the team more. I feel a big hunger and (am) eager to play hockey."
As much as Zetterberg enjoyed seeing family and friends back in Sweden this off-season, he got to a point where he was looking forward to returning to Michigan.
"I was home for three months, and that's enough," he said. "You miss home here. You want to go back and come back to this life.
"You spend nine or 10 months (here) the last eight years, so this is more home than Sweden. It's fun to go back and see friends and family. But when you've been there for a few months, you want to be here."
Rejuvenated Zetterberg ready to begin new season with Red Wings
By Chuck Pleiness, Macomb Daily, September 02, 2010
Henrik Zetterberg admittedly didn’t have a lot left in his tank as the season drew to an end last year.
Thursday morning at Joe Louis Arena, Zetterberg looked refreshed and ready for the 2010-11 NHL season.
“I was mentally drained,” Zetterberg said after skating with 12 of his teammates in preparation for training camp to open Sept. 16 in Traverse City. “It’s been a lot of hockey over these last three years. Just to have an extra month to go away from hockey and think about something else was nice.
“Now, when it was the middle of July you just want to get back,” Zetterberg added. “In your body it was enough and you just want to get back. That drive everyone has right now is good.”
Prior to getting knocked out of the second round of the Western Conference playoffs last season, the Wings had reached the Stanley Cup Finals two straight years and the Conference finals the year prior.
“It’s been many years since we’ve had this long of a break,” Zetterberg said. “We had the whole summer to work out and get ready for the season. I think that’s important to have. We haven’t had that chance in the last few years.”
Zetterberg’s offensive numbers were also off last season, finishing with just 23 goals and 47 assists. It was his lowest point total since registering 68 points (33 goals, 35 assists) since the 2006-07 season. However, that season he played just 63 games compared to 74 last year.
“I want to play better,” said Zetterberg, who also got married over the summer. “I want to produce more and help the team more. I feel a big hunger to come back and play hockey.”
Something that could help Zetterberg’s offensive numbers spike will be skating alongside longtime linemates Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve had a chance to start the year together,” Zetterberg smiled. “We look forward to it. We’re excited to get things rolling here.”
Zetterberg was asked if he had a preference of whom he skates with to which he responded, “I think you know the answer to that.”
By George Malik, Mlive.com, August 22, 2010
Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg spent the past week practicing with Rogle BK and preparing to take part in former NHL defenseman and Rogle assistant coach Kenny Jonsson's farewell game on Saturday afternoon.
After the game, he talked to Aftonbladet's Mats Wennerholm about the other reason why he participated in Jonsson's farewell game:
August 22, Aftonbladet (roughly translated):
During Kenny Jonsson's tearful farewell game, Henrik Zetterberg took the opportunity to thank Kenny.
On the ice and before 5,000 spectators at Lindab Arena.
He thanked him for leading him to his newly-married wife, Emma Andersson.
"Yes, he's a great matchmaker. Without Kenny, I wouldn't be married today," said Zata.
Kenny Jonsson had a fantastic last game before his home crowd in Angelholm yesterday.
He received a standing ovation that might still be going on if the game's master of ceremonies, Ake Ungar, hadn't chosen to break up.
Lindab arena was sold out before the game and fans went on the bidding site Tradera to find the coveted tickets from people who wanted to sell them.
All of Angelholm wanted to come to say goodbye. Like Kenny Jonsson's old teammates from the national team and the NHL.
Henrik Zetterberg said yes immediately. Not just because he was part of the historic dual gold-medal-winning teams with Kenny in 2006--Olympic gold and a World Championship win in the same season.
Kenny was the one who led him to the great love of his life, Emma.
"Yes, he put in a good word for me. Emma was in daycare with Kenny when she was little, and Kenny's parents know Emma's parents. That's the way it went."
Kenny laughed when he heard Zata's praise for him as a matchmaker.
"Yes, perhaps it happened that way. We lived in the same area and my mom, Ingrid, was babysitting Emma. She knew me, and I knew Zata, and by chance, they happened to meet. And I happened to be there and introduced them to each other," says Kenny.
It ended with a tremendous wedding in Molle earlier this summer. Or it began perhaps with a better word.
"It was a fantastic wedding and we didn't spare a thing. It was a full pour," says Zata.
Then he and Emma went on a honeymoon to the Seychelles for ten days, preciely when Kenny started to call up his NHL pals.
"Yes, he was difficult to reach, but eventually I got to him and he accepted immediately when I did," says Kenny.
Zetterberg 'Star Shines' at Kenny Jonsson's Retirement Game Practice
By George Mailk, Mlive.com, August 21, 2010
Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg and former Wing Andreas Lilja are taking part in an exhibition game commemorating long-time NHL'er and Rogle BK assistant coach Kenny Jonsson in Angelholm, Sweden today, and Helsingborgs Dagblad's Sara Johansson spoke to Zetterberg as he practiced alongside Henrik Lundqvist, Mats Sundin and more than a few of Johnsson's contemporaries on Friday.
August 21, Hesingborgs Dagblad (roughly translated):
Among the hockey sticks, practicing, and laughter, Henrik Zetterberg's star shone at the All-Star team's practice.
He's won Olympic gold, World Championships and the Stanley Cup. He was named the NHL playoffs' most valuable player and won the golden puck. Now the star Henrik Zetterberg's in Angelholm to pay tribute to Kenny Jonsson.
"It's an honor to be here, and I was absolutely and obviously going to show up when Kenny asked," says Zata.
The two players had battled together on the national team and won Olympic gold together in 2006. But they also practiced/trained together when Zetterberg spent summers in Angelholm.
"Kenny is a fantastic hockey player. He and Lidas (Nicklas Lidstrom) are the best defensemen I've played with."
While most of the team looked more or less rusty during the practice, Zata showed little glimpses [which suggested] that he's still at the peak of his career. Together with Andreas Lilja, he drilled Henrik Lundqvist in the goal, while hte veterans took one of their many water or stretching breaks.
"Lundqvist wanted to go a little longer. It's fun to practice with him, too, because we don't meet up often, otherwise."
The practice involved more nostalgia and laughter than tempo or commitment, but Zata had fun on the ice.
"It's a really great initiative and it's a fantastic group with many legends. It's fantastically cool for us who still want to meet the players that we've looked up to."
Will you play for the full game?
"We'll see what level the game's played at, but nobody here wants to lose. Since of course it takes a little getting used to when things get started."
He knows what he's up against in terms of opposition this afternoon.
"I've practiced with Rogle a bit and now of late, and I've found that they're very fast skaters. They think it's clearly going to be fun to play against us and win. I
Zetterberg's linemates, Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson, will join the team today. Then it remains to be seen whether the loaded list [of stars] or the young speedsters will win on the ice.
Zetterberg Praises New Swedish National Team Coach
By George Malik, Mlive.com, August 21, 2010
When Sweden bowed out of the 2010 Olympics in the quarterfinals, the Swedish press absolutely skewered coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson for making bizarre decisions in terms of player personnel decisions and coaching decisions during the tournament…
The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and the press have played up Team Sweden's decision to replace Gustafsson with Per Marts, a coach who promised to communicate with Sweden's star players, and NHL stars in particular, on a regular basis to keep them in the loop as to their chances of making the national team, the expectations they'd have to live up to, and on the players' parts, allow Marts to know in advance whether they'd lean toward participating in the Olympics or World Championships based upon injuries and mental as well as physical fatigue.
So it comes as no surprise that Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg has added his name to the long list of Swedish NHL'ers praising Marts' progressive approach in an interview with Expressen's Mattias Eriksson. What does come as a surprise, however, involves Zetterberg's blunt self-assessment of his Olympic performance and his admission of the fact that he was mentally and physically gassed, perhaps even before the NHL's 2009-2010 regular season began:
August 21, Expressen (roughly translated):
Tre Kronor new coach Par Marts had a secret meeting with Henrik Zetterberg
In a huge interview with SPORT-Expressen, the superstar retells the meeting, explains why he turned down [playing in the] World Championships and how he viewed his Olympic effort.
"I get a failing grade. It didn't go as well in that instance as I'd intended."
Today Henrik Zetterberg's playing in the tribute game for Kenny Jonsson in Angelholm, which has become Zata's second home locale in Sweden because his wife, Emma Andersson, is from the region--the couple married in Molle in July.
Today's game is special for Zata. He's always said that Detroit teammate Nicklas Lidstrom is the best he's ever played with--but Kenny isn't far behind.
"He and Lidas are the best defensemen that I've played with in my career," says Zetterberg.
"I wasn't prepared at all"
Zata and Kenny played together for the Tre Kronor, with the Olympic gold in 2006 as the highlight.
But when coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson called Zata in Detroit last spring and asked if he could play in the World Championship, the answer was no, just as it was for most of the other Olympic players.
He's always been there for the Tre Kronor previously, and turned them down all of a sudden. Now Zetterberg can reveal why for the first time:
"I was mentally exhausted, that was what the reason was. There was so much hockey and short summers over the past three seasons. It was a tough year in Detroit and the Olympics made the season even longer. I didn't have the energy to expend or reload in terms of the mental part and I wasn't prepared at all to play in the World Championships."
This was after Zetterberg's likely most difficult season in his career, with failures for both the Tre Kronor in the Olympics and with Detroit in the NHL--and his own season, which wasn't the same as the past, when he was among the world's best players.
"It was clearly a down season, and I wasn't really prepared. I didn't feel the same physically, and not in my head, either."
What about the Olympics, now that there's some distance from them?
"I'm very disappointed, because you don't know how many Olympic games you can get the chance to play in. On paper we had a team that could've gone a really long way but we weren't good enough when the time came."
And your own performance?
"I get a failing grade. It didn't go as I'd imagined at all."
After the quarterfinal defeat to Slovakia, Bengt-Ake Gustafsson received the entirety of criticism, and SPORT-Expressen repeatedly aired the players' dissatisfaction with him.
"It's clear in retrospect that there were things that could have been differently, but it's easy to be the [Monday morning quarterback] and find fault. We played the same way in Turin and we won gold then."
Now Bengt-Ake has left and Per Marts has taken over.
"Bengt-Ake was my coach when we won both the Olympic gold and the World Championships, and he was the coach that I won the most with in my international career. I'll always remember that."
"But it was right to change the national team's coach. Everything has its time, and it's necessary for the renewal of a team or teams."
Earlier this summer, just before Zata and Emma Andersson's wedding, Marts, assistant national team coach Peter Sundstrom and Zata met in secret at the Grand Hotel in Molle--the same hotel where he and Emma Andersson were married.
"It was a really good meeting. He laid forward his thoughts and so on. It was a little Swedish, a little clearer in terms of roles on the team. Everybody won't play on the power play, for example."
"We're the ones who play in North America, and are more used to playing at the international level, and what's required to point out and think about."
Zata praises Marts' initiative and his direct contact with NHL players, and his plan to be in continual contact with the stars during the NHL season.
"It's important to have communication between players and coaches, not just before the World Championships without having contacted or called and checked [your] situation during the year's time. Then you get insight into how everything works."
Marts hopes that dialogue with players will yield fewer, "No thanks" responses to requests to play in the World Championships.
"There have been many no's, but not everybody understands that we all want to play for the national team, but when really go we want to perform," says Zata.
"In order to be able to provide something we need to be healthy and mentally ready."
And you can count on seeing Zetterberg in the World Championships if Detroit goes out early in the playoffs.
"The times that I've participated in the World Championships, they were unbelievably fun and I definitely see myself playing in the World Championship in the future, and I think the majority of NHL players do."
By George Mailk, Mlive.com, August 12th, 2010
Henrik Zetterberg had a record-long summer holiday. And it's definitely been more eventful than usual.
"It was hugely successful," said Zata about his wedding.
On a perfectly ordinary Wednesday training session in August, Henrik Zetterberg turned up at Timra IK practice, after spending a dreamy existence in the Seychelles, which is why he sported a sunburn.
Now he begins a serious approach to pre-season training, which started with some storm clouds rolling in.
"I got tonsillitis over the weekend, so I'm not feeling 100% well," he says.
If it's anything more than that, he's not sure whether he'll train with his old friends in Timra.
"I'll see how it feels and will talk with my doctor. I'll still actually play with the Icebreakers," says Zetterberg.
The professional hockey players' charity hockey team has already played an exhibition game in Ramsele, and it plays in Karlsrona (tonight) and Vasteras (tomorrow) tour toward a fine visit.
In 2008 the Stanley Cup trophy took a drive around the country and around the kingdom--every Swede on Detroit showed up with the great trophy and Henrik Zetterberg brought it back first to court it around Njurunda and Timra.
The following year the Red Wings lost in the finals against Pittsburgh, and last spring lost against the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the playoffs.
Now it's Chicago's Swede, Niklas Hjalmarsson, who's boasting the trophy. But Henrik Zetterberg wants another [chance] to bring the Stanley Cup back to Detroit.
"Absolutely, it's something I always strive toward and I think it looks really interesting this year. We got to keep the team together and got Mike Modano and Jiri Hudler is back."
The first one is a veteran who played 1,500 games in Minnesota and then Dallas's star-decorated jersey. The other Detroit pro is returning from a season in the KHL with Dynamo Moscow.
And with the early exit from the playoffs the Detroit players have had an unusually long summer holiday.
"The extra rest we've had, I think it's going to be very important, and now I'm itching to get started again. It was a hard season for us overall," said Zetterberg after his on-ice practice with Timra.
"I think it looks good for Timra, they've added a good Finn and should be a team that will wage war up there," said Zetterberg, who has kept up with his red and white-wearing friends from Timra from the red and white of Detroit.
"It's pretty easy to keep up with nowadays," he says.
Your friend, the bearded workhorse Peter Hallin, returned to Timra.
He's a fan favorite who always does his best. It's a really good addition," said Zata, whose friend played a large role in his wedding ceremony.
"Peter was the best man," said Zetterberg, similarly bearded.
And the wedding was nice?
"Absolutely. It was hugely successful and great to see all our friends and loved ones. It was really relaxed and we offered a little fun for everybody who came. I think it was a great event for everybody who came."
When one of the biggest names in Swedish hockey marries a celebrity, the media atention is great. Really huge.
"Yeah, but it was clear, it is what it is. But we think it worked out pretty well, we weren't really bothered by it," said the newly-married man, who married Emma on the last weekend in July.
After the party was over, the couple left the country.
"We spent ten days in the Seychelles, which was really necessary," said Zata.
On his head, Zetterberg wore a Detroit hat. A hat with the Detroit Pistons logo.
Do you follow basketball?
"Yes, especially since Jonas Jerebko came. It was cool to see them add a Swede. He's developed really well, but unfortunately it only went well for him. The team's otherwise in the middle of a generational changeover."
Have you watched many games?
"I've been to a few, we have exchanged some tickets."
The newlyweds only have few weeks left at their house in Alno. Emma and Henrik are leaving the country in a little while.
"We're going in early September, but it's been nice to have a little extra time off."