DETROIT - When Justin Abdelkader entered the NHL 10 years ago, Pavel Datsyuk gave him a piece of advice. It was more like a demand.
"When I first came into the league, it was more about puck possession," Abdelkader said. "I played with Pav and he said, 'Don't dump the puck in,' and I said all right. He said, 'You value the puck and you keep the puck because it's hard to get back.' So that was engraved in my head right away."
The Red Wings were the game's best puck-possession team for years with Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in their prime and a host of other skilled players before that.