Custance on Zetterberg’s playing future

The Athletic’s Craig Custance discusses Henrik Zetterberg’s future today, wondering aloud how long Zetterberg might play:

As one Western Conference head coach put it: “He’s made millions and millions and still absolutely loves to compete. That’s why you respect Zetterberg and the Sedins so much. They’re approaching 38 and 39 and they play like a son of a bitch.”

Zetterberg isn’t doing it with high-end skating or some other skill that might fall off a cliff as 40 approaches. He’s successful because he has an iron will. And continues to stay a step or two ahead of the young players populating the league.

So there’s definitely a temptation to rethink that two-year assumption that emerged in the summer.

“If I can go in and have the year I had last year for four more years, I am more than happy to be the guy who can play,” Zetterberg told The Athletic when asked about his plans for the future earlier in the season.

Custance continues (paywall)…

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.