Sergei Fedorov returns to Joe Louis Arena for Hockey Hall of Fame honoring

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – Walking the Joe Louis Arena undercroft en route to the Detroit Red Wings locker room is a path Sergei Fedorov is all too familiar with.

But Tuesday night prior to puck drop between the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals – two of his former teams – he returned as an alumnus, as the Red Wings honored No. 91 for his Hockey Hall of Fame induction Monday night.

“It hasn’t really sunk all the way, but we had a great three, four days in Toronto, a lot of activities, enormous excitement being built before last night,” Fedorov said. “It’s such an honor, unexpected really, when I received the phone call… I guess hockey is a team sport and always will be. Individual effort, it counts and all, but team effort really gets you where you want to be. Like I said in my speech, without my teammates, my coaches, my partners, friends, colleagues, I don’t think I would be accepted in Hall of Fame.”

When asked how he would react if his number were to be retired and hung from the Joe Louis Arena rafters, Fedorov said it would be the ultimate Hockeytown honor, but did not want to push anything.

“I don’t want to put any pressure. It’s going to be a great honor if it happens, if it’s not, to be part of it for 13 seasons here, 3 Cups and celebration rallies, what else can you wish for? Very fortunate we got that kind of stretch.”

Being inducted alongside longtime teammate and former roommate Nicklas Lidstrom made the event that much more special for Fedorov.

“We spent so much time as roommates, as powerplay buddies, defensive zone buddies, so we spent very extensive amounts of time on the ice and off the ice and after my speech when I sat down, he turned to me and said (with a hint of sarcasm), ‘Sergei, you didn’t look nervous at all,’ That was pretty good,” Fedorov said. “It’s just an amazing feeling that we grew up together in hockey and all those situations that we went through playing for Red Wings.”

He not only joined Lidstrom in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but former Russian Five line mates Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov.

“Those guys, obviously, are my colleagues, my tutors, they’re my older brothers that taught me how to play game of hockey,” Fedorov said. “We had… life example in front of us every day – we practiced four hours on the ice – how to do things properly. Those guys already were many-time world champions, Soviet Union champions, Olympic champions. We just got lucky, so they mean to me everything I know about this game and it’s no doubt in my mind everything I did and I know they were huge part of it, especially when we reunited here in Detroit. That was really another dream come true.”

But Fedorov’s induction wasn’t the only story of the night. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin had the opportunity to break Fedorov’s record for most goals by a Russian-born player. With 483 on his career, Ovechkin is currently tied with Fedorov for the most. Ovechkin hit the mark in 772 games when it took Fedorov 1,248. While he didn’t get it Tuesday night, the Caps have two more games until they’re right back at Joe Louis Arena for another match-up.

“Records are made to be broken and Ovi was a fan of mine,” Fedorov said. “I watched when he was playing Toronto Maple Leafs (Saturday night), he was probably five, seven or nine years old, with my jersey on, and he never told me that story, so he’s going to get some grief from me about that, because in the Washington days, we shared a lot of moments together in a short period of time I was there. To me, it’s a matter of time. He’s a great player, especially great goal scorer, he’s really strong on the puck. I’m happy for him.”

Ovechkin, meanwhile, on Tuesday morning called Fedorov the best player he’s ever played with, speaking volumes about the respect he has for his former teammate and now Hall of Famer.

“We really have a good friendship,” Fedorov said. “As he grows older, because I stopped aging, you know, after I finished, he realized everything I said was pretty much true and he can use that toward his advantage, his life on the ice and off the ice and obviously Alex will go beyond 600 goals, maybe even 700 goals. Coming from him, he’s already a great player himself.”

Fedorov said he never felt any negative feelings about leaving Detroit in 2003, regardless of how his departure to Anaheim was portrayed.

“I think they were misunderstandings or business moves or business decisions, right or wrong, everybody made what they wanted to make, but they always say even though we’re maybe not on good terms – for some reason even though I didn’t feel that way at all, not one moment – always were welcome on many occasions to say hello or meet for dinner to this day,” Fedorov said.

When asked if he would go back and do it differently so that he would’ve remained a Red Wing for life, Fedorov said it wasn’t that simple to answer, adding some humor in, too.

“Of course, I said numerous time I’d like to be a Red Wing for the rest of my career,” Fedorov said. “For some reason, you’ve got advisors – I’m going to blame the agents – for what they advised.”

Despite the dark cloud that hung over his departure, he said he still receives the warm welcome everywhere he goes in Detroit, just like when he first arrived in the Motor City for the start of his career roughly 25 years ago.

“Still the case, even though we had some misunderstandings. People were really nice.”

These days, Fedorov manages the KHL franchise, CSKA Moscow, also known as the Red Army. But he still finds time to get to Detroit when he can.

“Very intense 10-11 months out of the year managing a hockey club in Moscow, the famous one from Soviet Union days,” Fedorov said. “It’s called CSKA or Red Army. A lot of work there and 300 kids, 12 coaches, that’s a hockey school. Then junior team, VHL team that’s step behind KHL team. It’s all mine. I’m managing. 

“I’ve been lucky or in some ways blessed with opportunities, so I do business and pleasure altogether, three, four times a year now.”