Where Does Pavel Datsyuk Rank Among The Best Centers Of His Era And How Do You View His Legacy?

[MichaelFarrell]

Pavel Datsyuk is one of the best all-around players in NHL history. He was widely regarded as the best defensive center of his era in a very low scoring time in NHL history and should eventually get his name in the Hall of Fame.

Growing up, I remember Pavel Datsyuk being looked at as one of the best centers in the league behind Sidney Crosby. How does he stack up compared to prime Henrik Sedin, Evgeni Malkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Joe Thornton, Ryan Getzlaf, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews, John Tavares, etc?

How do you view Pavel Datsyuk’s legacy and where does he rank in the best centers of his era?

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[Ceremony]

This is how I view his legacy:

 

[Seanaconda]

I think he's one of those guys like Fedorov that you can just rank anywhere and if you're confident enough it can work in an argument

Like the biggest Datsyuk stans had him over crosby ovie malkin when he was playing .

 

[sensfan4lifee]

Of his era?

I'd Say

Crosby
Malkin
Datsyuk
Toews
Kopitar
Bergerron

I'd have him around 3rd for his era

 

[Killer Orcas]

Silky smooth is how I remember him. Defensively don't get better and was magic offensively with the stick handling and skating.

 

[Kranix]

He arrived later in his career, and his peak was overshadowed by Thornton Ovi, Sid, and Malkin.

 

[sensfan4lifee]

He arrived later in his career, and his peak was overshadowed by Thornton Ovi, Sid, and Malkin.

Ovi is a winger

and I'd take Datsyuk over Thornton any day of the week its not even debateable

 

[JaegerDice]

He’s in the top tier with Sid and Malkin for me.

Then the next tier you have guys like Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar, Stamkos, etc

 

[Kranix]

Ovi is a winger

and I'd take Datsyuk over Thornton any day of the week its not even debateable

Who cares, they're all forwards.

 

[sensfan4lifee]

Who cares, they're all forwards.

The OP stated Centers not forwards

 

[CanadienShark]

Who cares, they're all forwards.

It's literally in the title. Centres.

 

[AvroArrow]

Best defensive forward in the league while also being top 5 offensively

 

[Kranix]

It's literally in the title. Centres.

I'm saying people place too much importance on the distinction.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Depends how broadly you want to define "era". Certainly the first four years post-Lockout he's as good as any player. After that with the next four years, he falls back a bit with the rest of the pack and also wasn't quite there immediately pre-Lockout.

Very HHOF career, but ultimately one third place Hart Finish, one 2nd Team All-Star and hard to justify more season by season. The "two-way" Centers he's debated against as far as were they his peers or was he a tier above didn't really have prime overlap with him in that those guys weren't really established yet during Datsyuk's best years.

 

[norrisnick]

Right behind Zetterberg. So wherever you place Z...

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Depends how broadly you want to define "era". Certainly the first four years post-Lockout he's as good as any player. After that with the next four years, he falls back a bit with the rest of the pack and also wasn't quite there immediately pre-Lockout.

Very HHOF career, but ultimately one third place Hart Finish, one 2nd Team All-Star and hard to justify more season by season. The "two-way" Centers he's debated against as far as were they his peers or was he a tier above didn't really have prime overlap with him in that those guys weren't really established yet during Datsyuk's best years.

That the thing though. Defensive centers are overlooked in the trophy department. Anze Kopitar had one season where he was top 3 in Hart votes and you couldn’t say he wasn’t a top center of his era.

LA’s coach, Hiller, talked about this in a recent interview. Guys like Kopitar and Datysuk, both of which he mentioned specifically, sacrifice points for two-way game. Even Steve Yzerman never won a Hart.

 

[BigTruzz]

He arrived later in his career, and his peak was overshadowed by Thornton Ovi, Sid, and Malkin.

Thornton lol

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Right behind Zetterberg. So wherever you place Z...

I could be wrong, but I remember Z on Datsyuk’s wing a lot of the time. Correct me if I’m wrong because it’s been a long time.

 

[Stony Curtis]

He's one of the very few guys ever who could make watching defense fun. He could handle the puck pretty good too.

 

[norrisnick]

I could be wrong, but I remember Z on Datsyuk’s wing a lot of the time. Correct me if I’m wrong because it’s been a long time.

At times either was on the wing of the other. Zetterberg usually took more faceoffs per season than Datsyuk.

 

[tabness]

what Doughty and Chara said he was the best it wasn't a great time for talent but he influenced the crop today

 

[nowhereman]

He’s in the top tier with Sid and Malkin for me.

None of those players is on the same tier. Sid is in the tier with Beliveau, Hull, and McDavid, just outside the Big 4. Malkin is in the tier with Yzerman, Forsberg and Dionne. Datsyuk is in a tier with Iginla, Keith and Gilmour.

Datsyuk had a brilliant peak but he didn't have the numbers, hardware or impact on his team's multiple Cups that Sid and Geno did. He's a distant third when compared to them.

what Doughty and Chara said he was the best it wasn't a great time for talent but he influenced the crop today

NHLers say a lot of crazy things but it was pretty absurd to call Pavel Datsyuk the best player in the league in 2015. Mind you, that's just two guys and that was certainly not the general consensus then.

 

[DamonDRW]

I'm one of the biggest Datsyuk fans but I wouldn't rank him higher than let's say Crosby or Malkin. Still given the choice among these three I would choose him 10 times out of 10.

He made his every shift entertaining for the fans. In my opinion his style is how the hockey needs to be played.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Somewhere between Jansen Harkins and Craig Adams.

 

[Duke749]

I'm saying people place too much importance on the distinction.

Except Ovi couldn’t be further from a center lol