The Detroit Red Wings quickly realized that they had something special on their hands when rookie Pavel Datsyuk burst onto the scene during the legendary 2001-02 season.
It may have been understandable for fans to overlook him, seeing as how the Red Wings were stacked with nine future Hall of Fame players on the roster. But Datsyuk’s insane dangling and routine humiliation of opposition players quickly caught Red Wings fans’ eyes.
His efforts during a January 2002 game against the Vancouver Canucks helped fuel a comeback from what was a 4-1 deficit that soon became a 5-4 OT victory.
