After two games out of the lineup, Pavel Datsyuk will return tonight against Phoenix. This is great, as Phoenix doesn't look like the cakewalk they used to be. Their start this year has been impressive and pretty unexpected. The Wings will have to hope Pav's truly healthy because the Coyotes have only given up something like 10 goals so far this year (I think I read that somewhere). Pav will be paired with Zetterberg and Homer on the top line. I am and have always been a fan of playing Pav and Z together, so I'm glad there won't be any line shuffling going on.
-John Buccigross has a pretty interesting little column up over at ESPN. He says that Dats and Z are both past their prime. I don't think I can bring myself to agree with this, but he makes a better point than you'd think from just reading the title. My take on this is that he's probably right, the athleticism of a player peaks in their mid 20s, but I don't think that means they're past their prime when this diminishes. Look at Pavel, who didn't come into the league until he was 24. He's a lot better at 31 than he was at 25. However you feel about it, it's worth a read. Here's the link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/notebook?page=buccigross/091021mailbag
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