Larkin on New Hall-of-Famer Datsyuk: "Those Were Cool Memories"

Before tonight's game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs in Toronto, the Hockey Hall of Fame's 2024 Class will be honored.  Nearest and dearest to Detroit fans amongst that class is Red Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk, who won two Stanley Cups and three Selke Trophies while humiliating too many goaltenders and defensemen to keep track of with his nonpareil slight of hand.  Datsyuk spent 14 seasons in Detroit, from 2001-2016.  In that final season (2015-16), Datsyuk played with present Red Wing captain Dylan Larkin, who was then in his rookie season.

After morning skate today in Toronto, Larkin recounted for reporters his memories of that season, breaking into the NHL alongside a player who would go on to enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame: "I played with him for a year, and just his sense of humor, it was very underrated.  His English I think was better than he let [the media] believe.  My first year there was a video that came out on YouTube about me, and no one enjoyed it more than Pav.  That was the D Boss Video.  He loved it.  He loved talking about it.  He loved calling me D Boss.  Those were cool memories.  It honestly helped me feel a little bit better about it when it came out."

The infamous or beloved video depicted an adolescent Larkin—the American flag draped around his shoulders—guiding viewers through a "snip show" in a friend's basement.  The veteran Datsyuk's good humor helped assuage whatever embarrassment may otherwise have festered for the rookie Larkin.

Larkin also recalled the way Datsyuk's love of the game of hockey manifested in hard work, saying, "Just watching the way he worked, the way he would ride the bike for 45 minutes after games.  He was in the last year of his NHL career and still playing one-on-one with guys for 30, 40 minutes after morning skates.  He loved the game, and he loved putting the puck through a guy's triangle and going in and making a play."

He ascribed a similar quality to he and Datsyuk's mutual former teammate, Henrik Zetterberg.  "Both those guys were so good, and I think people talk a lot in hockey about culture, and those guys—the way they worked, the way they prepared, the way they made everyone in our locker room feel a part of the team—I think certain points in their career they both dealt with adversity and had things happen to them, and they both responded," Larkin said of the Red Wings' beloved 'Euro Twins.'  "I think it's because they loved the game, they loved coming to the rink and spending time with their teammates.  So they made me feel really comfortable, and it's something that I still cherish and try to bring myself as a leader."

Reporters also asked Larkin about Datsyuk's infamous stick, which featured a long, flat paddle blade.  Larkin said it resembled the one Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl uses today but that Draisaitl's has a similar paddle shape but with more curve.

"It's a crazy stick," Larkin said.  "I have a couple in my house, and when people come over, it's one of the first things they grab in the basement and make a comment about how it's not something that anyone would enjoy using but Pav."  He added that he would play with them in practice, when he needed a confidence boost:  "I used to use it when I was fighting the puck a little bit.  I would grab his stick and skate around with it, and then my stick would feel really good."

Whether in his play, his dry comedy, or his stick specifications, there was no one quite like Pavel Datsyuk.

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