Henrik Zetterberg: Fatherly Advice Set the Stage for Stellar Red Wings Career

On November 16 & 17, the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the 2023 NHL Global Series. To commemorate this historic event and pay tribute to Detroit's Swedish connection, each week leading up to the Global Series, we will feature a Swedish Red Wings story in our series, 'How Swede It Is' presented by JP Wiser's. Each story is a testament to the dedication and resolve between the players and the Red Wings to build upon and maintain a tradition of excellence between Swedish hockey and the Red Wings. We continue our series with forward Henrik Zetterberg

From an early age, Henrik Zetterberg had a passion for hockey.

As he became older, his hockey passion never waned, but he noticed something that impacted his overall game.

“When I was young, hockey had always been kind of easy for me, all the way until 11-12 years old,” Zetterberg said. “I wasn’t big but no one else was big. But then all of a sudden, everyone started growing and I didn’t. I played with guys that were two years older than me, so obviously there was even a bigger gap. So somehow, I just learned to play in a different way.

“I always liked to have the puck and you just try to protect the puck. I learned to do that with playing against bigger, stronger players. I probably was later in puberty than my friends the same age. So when I started getting muscles and I started training, the gap got smaller. I had that advantage because I learned how to play as a small player.”

Zetterberg’s father, Goran, was also instrumental in how Zetterberg developed his game by reinforcing a simple, but effective way of becoming a play maker without taking many devastating bodychecks.

“My dad always told me, ‘Before you go into the corner, make sure who’s around you and make sure where your teammates are,’” Zetterberg said. “So once you get the puck, you know where they are. He also told me, ‘You’re a small guy, and if you don’t keep your head up, you’re going to get hit.’ I learned to be aware of my surroundings.”

It was his ability to hang onto the puck and make good decisions that caught the eye of Detroit Red Wings scouts when director of European scouting Hakan Andersson and assistant general manager Jim Nill first saw Zetterberg play for Sweden’s under-18 team in April 1998. Detroit also had a connection with one of his teammates on his Swedish team in Timrå.

“I saw a smart two-way player,” Andersson said about Zetterberg. “I was a little bit lucky, too, because years before that, we drafted Anders Eriksson, big defenseman out of Sweden and he has an older brother named Jörgen and he was on Henrik Zetterberg’s team.”

Jorgen Eriksson gave Andersson a glowing review. He was so positive that to this day Anders Eriksson jokes with Zetterberg that his family deserves at least a finder’s fee because without Jorgen’s endorsement, he may have never been drafted by the Red Wings.

“I don’t know all the facts here. But the thing I know, I played with Anders’ brother, Jörgen, in Timrå,” Zetterberg said. “Jörgen told (Anders and the Wings) that we have a good player coming up here in Timrå and it was me. But still, I was a late bloomer. I kind of was hidden in Timrå.

“We had the Sedin twins the same age, they were unbelievable. I kind of flew under the radar. Even my draft year, I wasn’t really a high-profile player. Timrå for me was a good spot to be. I could take my step in my own way. I was able to play with men early on and I kind of just progressed.”

After talking to Jorgen Eriksson, Andersson and Nill agreed Zetterberg was a player to keep an eye on during his draft year in 1999.  

“So after talking to Jorgen, jokingly, Jim Nill said to me, ‘OK, when all the real players are gone, bring up that Zetterberg’s name,’” Andersson said. “But we saw something we liked in him, and we had his name on the list. Obviously tremendous development after that.”

Zetterberg never expected to get drafted. He was so convinced his name wasn’t going to be called, instead of attending or following the draft, he went on vacation.

“Back then, I don’t think the draft was as big as it is now,” Zetterberg said. “I knew the draft was going on but I didn’t expect to get drafted. We went to Cyprus, me and five others. Hakan called me and said, ‘congratulations, you’ve been drafted by the Detroit Red Wings.’ I was a little surprised and then the next sentence was, ‘Can you get here to development camp. It starts basically in a few days.’ Then I had a decision to make.

“To me, we just came down there (to Cyprus) and I was in a bit of a shock. I ended up staying in Cyprus for the week with my friends. It was a good week. I missed development camp. A few years later I came over for the rookie camp.”

When Zetterberg arrived in Detroit for the 2002 Prospect Tournament and Red Wings Training Camp, he was 22 years old. All eyes were on this 1999 seventh-round draft pick who performed well in the SHL the previous two seasons.

Zetterberg made the Red Wings out of camp and played the next 15 seasons in Detroit. He never played in the minors and had a theory as to why he made the Red Wings at age 22.

“When I was drafted, I was definitely not ready,” Zetterberg said. “You see guys get drafted nowadays, they come over right away. I was not even close. If you look at the team at that time, (Detroit) was pretty stacked. I don’t think they even had any thought of bringing me over. They drafted me, they let me be in Sweden, played in Timrå, played in two World Championships, played one Olympics and that really helped me, playing in those tournaments.”

Zetterberg’s first year with the Red Wings came a season after Martin Lapointe left Detroit as a free agent for the Boston Bruins. For years, Lapointe had the stall in the dressing room next to Steve Yzerman. It was often speculated whoever sat next to Yzerman would someday be captain of the Red Wings. Zetterberg was given the stall next to Yzerman.

“Sitting next to Steve was just a great experience my first year. Just to see how he did things, on and off the ice,” Zetterberg said. “But we didn’t really have a lot of conversation. I spoke when I got spoken to, I made sure he had his tape in his stall. To me, looking back to it, it definitely helped me. All the guys around, we had so many leaders, but Stevie was the captain. He will always be the captain in this city. For me to have that close experience with him for my first year was special.”

Yzerman was impressed with Zetterberg from the beginning, telling DetroitRedWings.com back in April 2017 as Zetterberg was about to play in his 1,000th career game, which was also the last game played at Joe Louis Arena.

“The day that he came into the organization, he was professional, very mature,” Yzerman said in 2017. “A professional in the way he conducted himself on a daily basis from the way he practiced, the way he played. He was going to be Henrik whether Nick (Lidstrom) or I was there or not.

“He just had special qualities of a leader. Tremendous all-around player. From day one, he had all those abilities, which I really admired because a lot of us had to learn that stuff and he knew it as a young man.”

Yzerman’s sentiments are echoed by every Red Wings player whenasked about Zetterberg. His dogged style and relentless hounding of the puck earned praise from his teammates and begrudging respect from opponents.

Perhaps the most telltale game which captures the embodiment of Zetterberg as a player was Game 6 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With the Red Wings one win away from earning their 11th Stanley Cup in franchise history, Zetterberg not only scored the cup-clinching goal, but it was also his penalty-killing prowess which singlehandedly thwarted the Penguins’ two-man advantage in the first period with the Red Wings leading, 1-0.

For the 1:27 of the Penguins’ 5-on-3 advantage, Zetterberg stymied the high-powered Pittsburgh offense.

“I was able to play some of the most competitive hockey players in the game and I put Henrik Zetterberg up there with anybody. The way he competes, his intensity, his desire to win, is something that I totally respected out of Henrik Zetterberg,” said Kris Draper. “Just a great person, great teammate. The one shift that I’ll never forget is that 5-on-3 shift and the reason why I’ll probably never forget it is both Dallas Drake and I were sitting in the penalty box while that shift was going on.

“That was probably the worst or hardest two minutes of my career and I literally got back to the bench and gave Z probably one of the biggest hugs I’ve ever given anybody during a game after that performance against Pittsburgh. It was in ’08 in Game 6, it was the great Doc Emrick basically came on and said, ‘Henrik Zetterberg with a Conn Smythe-like shift.’ That was just something that I’ll never forget with that performance that he did in that game at that moment. That’s what the great ones do, they find ways and that’s what Henrik Zetterberg’s all about.”

Detroit won the Stanley Cup and Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP. But it was getting under Sidney Crosby’s skin, which remains forever in the hearts of Red Wings fans.

“I met Sid a few times after that series and after I was done playing. We had a great battle. It’s something that I will always remember,” Zetterberg said. “But I have always played that way. I always loved to play the defensive side of the game. But I must say, too, I probably learned a lot from (Kirk) Maltby, Draper, and those guys how to kind of get away with some dirtiness.”

From unheralded draft pick to Stanley Cup champion to overcoming a debilitating back injury to being named captain of the Red Wings. Zetterberg is among the greatest Red Wings of all-time.

He received many accolades over his career, but the last word belongs to former teammate Darren McCarty, who summed up Zetterberg in his unique McCarty way.

“Here’s the greatest thing, I rescued bulldogs for a bunch of years and the first one I got, I named him Hank Zeta, after Zetterberg. That’s how highly I think of Henrik Zetterberg,” McCarty said. “One word to describe Henrik Zetterberg — cool. Just cool. He’s just that guy.

“What I love about Z, no matter what it is, if you’re talking to him, you got his full attention. He makes you feel all the time. I think that’s why he’s been in the lineage line of Lidström, Yzerman and Zetterberg as captains.

“He’s everything, I can’t speak highly enough. As a player, just gutty. He was built more in the Yzerman (mode), he had more of a Stevie game, all-around game. The one thing about these Swedes that people don’t realize is their mental toughness is something that we all learn from them, let alone being able to play through tons of injuries. We know how well-documented the back injury was. Just a Red Wing through and through. I think also cool and classy. The classiest Red Wing of all-time is Alex Delvecchio, Henrik Zetterberg might be right behind him. Cool and classy, that’s what it is.”