In a post to his Twitter account Tuesday Evening, Pavel Datsyuk announced that he will be departing from the Kontinental Hockey League, where he has played for the last three seasons.
He last played for SKA Saint Petersburg, where the 40-year-old served as their captain.
Datsyuk’s rights were traded back in 2016 after leaving the Red Wings to the Arizona Coyotes, a trade that also saw draft picks swapped between the two resulting in the Coyotes drafting Jacob Chychrun. If Datsyuk elects to make a return to the NHL, he would have to wait until his current contract expires on July 1.
Since the announcement of Red Wings great and GM extraordinaire Steve Yzerman’s return to Detroit to fill their GM role, it has been rumored that Datsyuk is interested in a return to the Wings.
His agent Dan Milstein, said in an interview with The Detroit News that, “If Pavel decides to continue to explore the possibility of playing in the National Hockey League, I can tell you the only club he would play for would be the Detroit Red Wings.”
Datsyuk has yet to comment on his future, but it’s worth noting that Datsyuk will be 41 years old by the time he would be making an NHL comeback. If the price fit, it would make all the sense in the world for the Wings to take a flyer on their former superstar, but I wouldn’t expect the same player to come walking in the door as the one who left three years ago.
