Kovalev had sweet hands. With that being said, I think Datsyuk can deke better using his whole body to throw off a goaltender or defenseman. His shootout goal on Vokoun when he was a Predator was such a sweet move.
In game I don't even think it's that close. One made people look silly on a nightly basis, the other didn't.
If you want to compare their hands it's one thing, but it terms of effectively using those hands to deke opposing players in the NHL, that's a different comparison. Kovalev has never been as effective as Datsyuk when it comes to consistently deking - defencemen or goalies. Very few have. And Kovalev is not one of them.
Kovalev had the better hands, but Datsyuk has the bigger balls and is willing to attempt them more often and such.
I actually completely disagree and think it's the reverse. Datsyuk has a much higher success rate with his dekes, rarely makes any dumb ones and you don't see him screwing many up. Kovalev would shoot for the moon too much and try to deke through too many guys.
I'd call it a tie. These might be the two players with the best pure hands in the history of the game.
Datsyuk for me, dangles guys more often than Kovalev ever did. Kovalev had such an impressive package of skills because he had a cannon of a shot, was a very big/solidly built man, and was a very good puck handler, but he wasn't on Datsyuk's level in terms of pure dekes.
Datsyuk for me, dangles guys more often than Kovalev ever did. Kovalev had such an impressive package of skills because he had a cannon of a shot, was a very big/solidly built man, and was a very good puck handler, but he wasn't on Datsyuk's level in terms of pure dekes.
Would say this, remove Kovalev physical dominance and he would be more cleary under Datsyuk in term of deke.
Datsyuk make elite defenceman look stupid with is deke, he is the most creative player to let is talent talk also.
I think Kovalev had better moves, but Datsyuk is a lot more efficient.
When Datsyuk dekes around someone, there's a reason for it, that's probably the best path to net he can find in that instance. Kovy would just dangle through 3 guys because he felt like it, not because it was the best play to make.
