A former Wing scored a nice goal a few days ago, here’s why you shouldn’t care about it

The fawning over a goal scored by former Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk was reaching peak levels of annoyance earlier. Everywhere you turned on Red Wings Twitter and even amongst , seemingly that goal was there for you to view it. The move to SKA St. Petersburg has more than a few fans missing the good ol’ days with Pavel.

I am here to tell you to forget him.

Here is why you should move on from Pavel Datsyuk.

I have no problem at all when a fan follows a player leaves a team but when people forget that the aforementioned player forced his way out of town… it starts to become some murky water.

Pavel Datsyuk is technically a Arizona Coyote. 

He no longer has any affiliation to the Detroit Red Wings, save for the record books he is in. 

Why does your loyalty carry over, when a player objectively made your team worse in the short term? 

Even someone with the most nuanced of opinions can tell you why what Datsyuk did was wrong, not only for the team but for the NHL as well.

The next argument will be that Datsyuk went home to be closer to family, the problem with that is…

The reason we read across multiple publications was that Datsyuk wanted to move home to be closer to family. Nothing wrong with that answer, family is one of the few givens in this world. In fact it is actually an admirable move. 

He could have gone home to Yekaterinburg to play in the KHL, his hometown where his wife and daughter are living. Instead he is playing in St. Petersburg, a five hour flight away from his family. Wouldn’t he play in the same town if he wanted to truly be close to them? It doesn’t really add up.

Not to mention his archaic views on homosexuals, Datsyuk’s “good person” persona has quite a few holes.

Worshipping at his altar is dooming the Red Wings to a similar future. 

Acting like nothing has happened isn’t going to repair what he did to the team either. If Zetterberg or Kronwall did something similar, putting management in a tough spot, would they be viewed so kindly? 

As an individual, he has the right to leave and do as he pleases. It is also my right to call someone out on their BS. 

The celebration of Datsyuk stops here.

Move on and praise Dylan Larkin, you’ll be much happier for it.

He is not part of the organization and shouldn’t even be discussed past a cursory mention.

Perhaps a time will come where the #13 will be raised in the rafters, Datsyuk will apologize for earlier comments and will become more educated about his conduct and views.

But now is not that time.

He gave the Red Wings the ultimate “it’s not you, it’s me” and many are still giving him the time of day. Let’s stop doing that.