Off-season ankle surgery is slated to keep veteran forward Pavel Datsyuk out of the Detroit Red Wings lineup, when the puck drops on the 2016 season.Datsyuk reported underwent the surgery at the end of June and even a month on, the two-way centre doesn't believe he'll be 100% ready to go, which means he'll be out for training camp, the preseason and an undecided amount of regular season games to start the year.
Last season, Datsyuk picked up 26 goals and 65 points in 63 games, a very good scoring rate, but a disappointing amount of games played. It looks like the 2016 season is already heading towards somewhat of a repeat performance in the health department.
One could be very confident that Datsyuk still has the hands and the magic to score a bunch of points in the NHL, even at age 37. Like most of the other elder Red Wings before him, health has come into question and should be taken into consideration, when doing your projections for the year.Right now, confidence isn't very high, so I have him staying around the 65-point mark, unless he can get back into his skates during training camp, then he might get a bit of a bump up.
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