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Henrik Zetterberg won't be making major career move with Red Wings

Looks like he's not going to be making the transition from player to executive.

HockeyFeed

HockeyFeed

The Detroit Red Wings have been fortunate enough throughout their history to boast some of the greatest international talents that the National Hockey League has ever seen, from Nicklas Lidstrom to Sergei Fedorov to Henrik Zetterberg and plenty more in between. 

It was Zetterberg who burst onto the scene in the fall of 2002 in the wake of Detroit's 10th Stanley Cup championship the previous summer. As a highly touted rookie, he'd lead the NHL in rookie scoring and yet somehow finish 2nd in Calder Trophy voting to lumbering St. Louis Blues defenseman Barrett Jackman, who would go on to accomplish nothing of consequence over his career. 

However, if you're looking for him to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Nicklas Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Dan Cleary and other former Red Wings players who have joined the Red Wings front office in various capacities, you'll have to keep waiting.

It doesn't sound as though the 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner has any desire to do so based on comments that he recently made. 

“I’m only involved unofficially when I talk to Timrå and Detroit Red Wings, those are the two clubs that are close to my heart,” Zetterberg told Aftonbladet.se. “Kimmo Kapanen, who I have played with for a long time, has taken over as sports director in Timrå. It is only natural that you have contact and help as much as you can.”

As far as working in hockey, he said that he's only interested in doing so with his young son Love's team. 

“I’m just there to move pucks,” Zetterberg explained. “There is no other desire to work with hockey in the future.”

During his playing career, Zetterberg not only established himself as one of the all-time Red Wings forwards, but one of the all-time great Swedish forwards in NHL history.  He's currently ranked fifth on the franchise’s all-time list in goals (337), assists (623) and points (960) and sixth in games (960). He's also a member of the Triple Gold Club, having captured the gold medal with Team Sweden in the 2006 Turin Olympics as well as the Stanley Cup in 2008; he also helped Sweden to the IIHF World Championship in 2006.