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DETROIT – Henrik Zetterberg knew the big test was coming, so he wasn’t surprised or startled when Darren McCarty took a run at him during his first scrimmage with the Detroit Red Wings.
And he wasn’t particularly alarmed when McCarty ran him again…and again…and again.
The new kid arrived in Hockeytown with a mighty reputation and the reigning Stanley Cup champion Red Wings – McCarty in particular – wanted to test his mettle. The kid, 21 at the time, passed the test. Talk about an initiation into the NHL.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” says Red Wings veteran Brendan Shanahan.
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“I remember when he first arrived here for training camp, they weren’t sure how he would handle the physicality of the NHL, so Darren ran him a few times in our pre-season camp. It didn’t change the way he played. I remember Mac saying to me, ‘Not only is this kid tough, he’s pretty solid.’ I think he knocked the wind out of Mac.”
Considered by many to be the best player not in the NHL the season before he joined the Wings, Zetterberg might now be aptly described as the best player in the NHL that nobody knows. A shy, laid-back individual, Zetterberg has quietly become Detroit’s most dominant player. But if you don’t follow the Wings – or better yet, play on a line with him, you probably wouldn’t know him to pass him on the street.
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Sitting in a cozy lunch room next to the team’s dressing room, the walls adorned with action shots of Detroit stars from the past, the humble Zetterberg says he was aware he’d be tested by his new teammates when he arrived in 2002.
They wanted to know, did he have the jam to play with the big boys? Or would he wilt when the going got tough?
“In the first couple of red-and-white games, (McCarty) took a few runs at me,” recalls Zetterberg, his Bon Jovi-like locks strategically tussled to make him look more like a rock star than a professional athlete. “I heard before I came over here that it was going to be tough, so I was prepared. I didn’t hit him back or slash him; I just kept playing.
“After camp, (McCarty) came to me and told me he was instructed to hit me. He told me he was impressed with how I handled it.”
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At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, Zetterberg is not an imposing physical specimen. Standing next to him you can’t help but wonder how he survives in the NHL’s trenches. The answer is easy: speed and finesse. When he straps on his skates and takes control of the puck, he’s a force, able to make jaw-dropping moves while flying at full speed.
Zetterberg’s game is based on skill and determination and he simply refuses to be outworked.
“When I first got here, I was amazed at how many times he’d split the defense,” says defenseman Mathieu Schneider. “He takes such quick strides through the neutral zone. He’s a tremendous player. There are no weak parts to his game.”
Adds Steve Yzerman: “He stood out pretty quickly. Not so much for the flashy stuff, but for his allaround play. He is great defensively and he’s a pretty good positional player. Along the boards, he’s really good with the puck.”
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Zetterberg took his first strides toward becoming an NHL star when he was two years old. In his hometown of Njurunda, a community of about 100,000 located four hours north of Stockholm, his dad, Goran, strapped a pair of blades to his son’s winter boots and watched as young Henrik negotiated a frozen pond.
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