Pavel Datsyuk officially, finally, actually confirms he’s leaving the Red Wings and going back to play in Russia

Well, we finally have an answer. Pavel Datsyuk announced today at a press conference that he’s heading back to Russia.

There’s more for Datsyuk to say, (and he did say it), but nothing was all too surprising considering the rumours that had come out for weeks:

He leaves the Red Wings with 918 points in 953 games, two Stanley Cup rings, four Lady Byng awards, three Selke trophies, and perhaps most importantly, the 2007-08 Bud Light Plus-Minus award.

It looks like, for now, the Datsyuk saga is finally over- but we’ll see how the Wings try to handle his $7.5 million cap hit, which, as of right now, is dead money on their roster.

More to come.