Zetterberg ranks among top five all-time in points against Nashville

For the Nashville Predators, facing Henrik Zetterberg was the equivalent of death by 1,000 paper cuts.

The Detroit Red Wings forward never had a huge game against the Predators. Much more often than not, though, when he faced them, he managed to collect at least one point.

So it is likely there was not a lot of hand-wringing last Friday when Zetterberg formally announced his retirement from the NHL due to a back condition, which became an issue last season. Instead, there was probably one giant wave goodbye.

In the 20 years that they have been a part of the NHL, only four players (three forwards) have produced more points against the Predators than Zetterberg, who had 53 (18 goals, 35 assists) in 65 career meetings. The only opponents against which he had more points were St. Louis (68 in 67 games) and Chicago (55 in 60 games).

His decision to call it a career is the second in a matter of months by a player who tormented Nashville. Jarome Iginla, the all-time leader in goals against the Predators, formally announced his retirement in July.

A rundown of the NHL players with the most career points against the Nashville Predators:





Player

Team(s)

Points

Breakdown

Pavel Datsyuk

Detroit

74

21 G, 53 A

Jarome Iginla

Cal/Pitt/Bos/Col/L.A.

69

42 G, 27 A

Joe Thornton

Boston/San Jose

62

12 G, 50 A

Nicklas Lidstrom

Detroit

59

17 G, 42 A

Henrik Zetterberg

Detroit

53

18 G, 35 A

Teemu Selanne

Winn/Ana/S.J./Col

53

24 G, 29 A

Patrick Kane

Chicago

52

23, G, 29 A

Patrick Marleau

San Jose/Toronto

51

21 G, 30 A



Zetterberg never had more than three points in a game against Nashville. He had two goals and an assist twice (Feb. 10, 2009 and Jan. 17, 2007) and one goal and two assists once (Feb. 8, 2006).

The rest of the time, he was steady as a clock, such as during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, when he had at least one point in 10 of 12 meetings but never more than two.

Zetterberg is one of 12 players with 18 or more goals against the Predators. His 18 tie him with Shane Doan, Ryan Smith and Robert Lang for ninth place.

In recent years, he mostly piled up assists against them. He had one each in the two 2016-17 matchups and one in two tries in 2015-16. Zetterberg was scoreless against Nashville last season. Of course, both of those games took place in the second half of the season — after he had begun to experience issues with his back.