The Red Wings’ reputation as a popular team over the past three decades–despite their difficult times of late–has afforded the team a pair of free agent signings who are fans of the team while growing up.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses Vladimir Tarasenko and Erik Gustafsson’s status as Wings fans this morning:
Growing up in Yaroslavl, Russia, they were the childhood heroes of Detroit Red Wings forward Vladimir Tarasenko. The Russian Five were iconic in his view.
“I think this is Detroit as a team,” [Vladimir] Tarasenko explained. “It’s one of the most famous, if not the most famous team in the world. Like, when you talk about how to give it a history and no offense to other teams, but we grew up in Russia. A lot of people follow Detroit because of the Russian Five.
“When I had my first PlayStation. I was playing for Detroit too, with my friend. So, yeah, this was the team all the kids in my neighborhood where I grow up, when we talk about hockey.”
In Scandinavia, a similar scenario was playing out inside the childhood home of Detroit defenseman Erik Gustafsson in Nynashamn, Sweden. He also worshipped at the altar of the Red Wings, but his iconic hero was a different winged wheel legend.
“The history of this club, my favorite defenseman growing up was Nicklas Lidstrom,” Gustafsson said. “It’s obviously a great organization.”
Continued; the Red Wings may find themselves amidst a substantial playoff drought, but the team’s still got fans around the world (they are definitely still huge in Sweden, for example);
We can only hope that the team reclaims its position as one of the NHL’s powerhouse franchises over the next half-decade.
