[Editor’s note: This story originally published on Dec. 18, 2017. The Red Wings announced on Friday that Zetterberg’s NHL career was over due to a degenerative back condition.]



In February 2014, in a two-bedroom suite in the Olympic Village in Sochi, Henrik Zetterberg was on his knees, leaning forward, head down — the only position in which he wasn’t in debilitating pain. The room, one he shared with Team Sweden and Red Wings teammate Gustav Nyquist, had a beautiful view of the Black Sea, but that brought Zetterberg no comfort.



Nothing did.



He couldn’t lie down. He couldn’t sit up. He couldn’t sleep. If he dozed off, it was only momentarily. Teammates would come visit and it was hard for them to even look at him. He had conversations he doesn’t remember having, erased by the pain.



This lasted three days. He was sustained mostly by Strawberry McFlurries. Nyquist would get texts from Zetterberg asking him...