Great honor finally bestowed upon Henrik Zetterberg!

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. 

Meanwhile, Zetterberg would cement his status not only as one of the great Red Wings forwards, but one of the all-time great Swedish forwards in NHL history. The winner of the 2008 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playoffs most valuable player, Zetterberg currently ranks 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. 

And while he's still waiting for his rightful place in the Hockey Hall of Fame, he'll be honored on the international stage. It was announced earlier today that Z will be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame this coming May: