Ted Kulfan

The Detroit News

Detroit — Henrik Zetterberg realized it early this season, that he would have a chance to reach the 1,000-game milestone.

“Probably in November, I found it out early, but I didn’t want to talk about it or jinx myself,” Zetterberg said.

The math was interesting. For Zetterberg to reach 1,000, he’d have to play all 82 games this season, something he’s done only twice in his career. And if Zetterberg did get to that point, Sunday’s last game ever at Joe Louis Arena would be Zetterberg’s 1,000th.

A nice tie-in, for sure.

“To be honest, I didn’t really expect to play all the games,” said Zetterberg, 36, who has crafted one of his most impressive seasons. “It’s one of my goals to play all the games and also try to have a better second half than I did last year.

“Unfortunately the season ends on Sunday, but’s it’s going to be special.”

Saturday’s game against Montreal will be No. 999, then Sunday’s historic finale at Joe Louis Arena will be a career milestone for Zetterberg, as well.

“You couldn’t write a better script for that,” forward Justin Abdelkader said. “The success he’s had here at The Joe, how special a building it’s been for him and important for the team. It’s only fitting.”

Zetterberg has a team-leading 66 points (16 goals) and a team-best plus-13 plus-minus rating, while playing nearly 20 minutes per game.

“He had the back surgery (2014) and there were a lot of questions about who are we going to get back here?” said defenseman Niklas Kronwall, Zetterberg’s long-time teammate. “But he proved everyone fairly quick that Hank was going to be Hank regardless of the obstacles in his way and that’s why he’s our leader.

“He’s not the biggest guy or strongest guy or fastest guy, but he’s probably the smartest guy and hardest working guy and that goes a long way.”

Abdelkader disappointed

Count Abdelkader as another player who is disappointed by the NHL’s decision to skip the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. Abdelkader was on September’s United States World Cup team, has played in the World Championships, and would have been likely on the list of potential Olympians.

To not have that opportunity is “unfortunate,” he said.

“It’s something that, it’s really important for the players to go, to represent their countries,” Abdelkader said. “It’s a world wide event that brings the whole world together for those couple weeks. You want the best athletes available.

“I’m really disappointed. The guys have been outspoken about going. I don’t know what’ll it take, time will tell, but it’s a huge disappointment.”

There’s rampant speculation the NHL is looking for some sort of concessions, thereby allowing the players to compete in the 2018 Olympics — but Abdelkader isn’t sure what those concessions could be.

“Everything is agreed on, between the cost of getting out there, and insurance, I don’t know what the hold up is, why we’re not going out there,” Abdelkader said. “The players want to go. The players aren’t getting paid so there’s no money, more money that has to be exchanged.

“It’s just the travel and insurance and that’s already been taken care of.”

Ice chips

Blashill said forward Andreas Athanasiou wasn’t at Thursday’s practice and is day-to-day. Athanasiou is dealing with soreness from the crosscheck to the back he received March 27 in Carolina. Blashill said forward Matt Lorito will be called up from Grand Rapids. Lorito has 21 goals and 33 assists (54 points) in 59 games.

... The Red Wings agreed to terms with defenseman Dennis Cholowski (2016 first-round draft pick) late Wednesday. Cholowski, 19, had one goal and 11 assists in 36 games this season at St. Cloud State. It hasn’t been determined whether Cholowski will play in Grand Rapids, or play junior hockey.

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

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