The Fan Hub

The struggles that Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg has gone through this season have been unlike anything he has ever experienced. Now in his 9th NHL season, the 31-year-old Swede has seen a dip in production to a level that he hasn’t been at since his second year in the league, and no one can really figure out why.

A big part of it, however, is due to Zetterberg’s lack of production on the power play. As Ansar Khan of MLive.com notes, Zetterberg has averaged 30 power play points a season for the past six years, and has inexplicably produced just 5 (1 goal, 4 assists) this season. It’s certainly not due to a change in personnel, as the Detroit power play stalwarts of Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, and Nicklas Lidstrom are still there, and the team as a whole is among the league leaders in power play percentage (6th best in the NHL), as they usually are.

In fact, both Datsyuk and Zetterberg got off to slow starts this season before rallying in the past two months. But while Datsyuk’s production is back to its usual levels, Zetterberg’s rebound hasn’t been quite as extreme. Yes, he has 26 points in his past 24 games, but only 5 goals in that span, and has now gone 11 games without finding the back of the net.

““If I knew I would fix it and have more points,” Zetterberg said. “You just try to do the right things - shoot the puck, work hard and get there for second chances.”

The good news for the Wings and coach Mike Babcock that despite his lack of goal production, Zetterberg is still his usual self away from the puck. A former Selke Trophy finalist for the best defensive forward in the league, he is still one of the team’s top penalty killer, and knows to contribute on the ice even when he’s not putting up a ton of points. For that reason, and his usual leadership in the locker room and on the ice, that he has not seen a significant drop off in ice time. Thus, it’s likely only a matter of time before Zetterberg finds his stride, and the Wings really take off.