Pavel Datsyuk is probably getting very tired of sports writers and his NHL coach, Mike Babcock, questioning his health and his decision to play in the Sochi Olympic games and - indeed - his very integrity. His responses are becoming terse, and he is relying on an interpreter more and more...
...and when someone becomes so frustrated that he starts blurting out things like his employer is not important to him at present, it's time to back off and let the man do his thing before a full-scale soap opera breaks out - the captain of Team Russia suggesting as much.
"I do everything but only one thing what I can't do is talk to much media," Datsyuk said with a wry smile "Take me lots of energy."
By now, the entire civilized world and even parts of Maine knows that the 35-year-old slick playmaker for the Detroit Red Wings is embroiled in controversy surrounding a suspected knee injury which caused him to miss more than a month, and then returning to the lineup in time to play limited minutes in two games before flying off to Russia to participate in the games.
But before leaving, having to endure a barrage of criticism from many different angles, most notably from Red Wings' beat writers and management - in turn having a trickle-down effect on the fan base - and is now threatening to destroy the Olympic experience that he's waited his entire life for.
And while Red Wings' general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock have gone on record as being nervous about Datsyuk's health going into Sochi and, even more so, coming back to Detroit afterwards, Holland has been diplomatic about it recently - even understanding.
"He's probably been preparing for this two-week tournament five, six years ago when it was announced that it was coming to Russia," Holland said on Tuesday, to which Datsyuk replied, "Not six," he said. "All my life."
Datsyuk, Holland and Babcock would do well to avoid the media at all costs for these next two weeks, because if the media can't ask probing questions, the three of them don't take the chance of saying the wrong thing and causing a whole lot of nothing but speculation to become a monster that destroys their relationship.
Let the man play and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/02/time-to-back-off-of-datsyuk.html#.Uvu177Qcq58
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