Sergei Fedorov was the reason that I got into hockey. In the summer of 1991, my middle school friend Joe Kim kept on telling me about this great Russian player on the Red Wings who was blazing fast and tremendously talented.
So I started collecting hockey cards over the summer, and as I said yesterday, my dad took me to that pivotal exhibition game against Toronto on September 22nd, 1991 that sold me on hockey fandom.
Sergei scored one of the goals during that game, and he scored a hell of a lot more during his 13-year tenure with the Red Wings, dazzling fans, driving equipment managers crazy, and displaying his skill set and unbelievably high level of natural athletic talent. Fedorov wasn’t a player, he was a phenomenon, and a superstar whose ego was part of the package.
Today, the Red Wings announced that they’re retiring Sergei Fedorov’s #91 after a long, long wait on January 12th, 2026. The Red Wings’ media corps knew before the announcement, so they’ve already weighed in on Fedorov’s complicated legacy as a Red Wing for 13 years and then…Elsewhere…
So there was bad blood between Fedorov and the organization for a long time, even after the Winter Classic alumni game at Comerica Park, even after Fedorov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015, for a very long time, honestly.
Whatever the issues were have been at least partially forgiven, and we’re going to see #91 head up to the rafters when the Carolina Hurricanes come to town on the 12th of January, but EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro addressed the elephant in the room on his Substack:
Fedorov held out for the first 59 games of the 1997-98 season, after Detroit had won the Stanley Cup, and then signed an offer sheet from the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 26, 1998 that was loaded with bonuses. Detroit matched the offer sheet, but the deal came with a massive financial headache for the Ilitch family, where Fedorov was paid $28 million that season for just 21 games of work.
Fedorov then left Detroit for the Anaheim Ducks in the summer of 2003, reportedly turning down an offer to become the NHL’s highest-paid player to stay in Detroit.
It added to the complicated legacy for Fedorov in Detroit, the departure was messy, and rich men, and women, tend to hold grudges for a long time.
No. 91 was part of Red Wings history, it was never available — although Daniel Sprong did tell me he double checked and asked about it — but it was hidden away and would never be on display in the rafters next to Red Wings who did it the right way, like Steve Yzerman or Nicklas Lidström.
Mike Ilitch passed away in 2017, but the family continued to respect his grudge toward Fedorov for close to eight years, before this week, the Red Wings announced they would retired No. 91 on Jan. 12 this upcoming season, part of a 100th anniversary celebration.
It’s rather crazy that Fedorov’s proper enshrinement with the franchise he most represented, will come a decade after he was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Fedorov lost his alternate captain’s “A” to Nicklas Lidstrom for the Hurricanes holdout, the divorce between Fedorov and the Wings when he signed with Anaheim was viciously acrimonious in the Russian papers, with one side stating that Fedorov had a contract offer on the table that he agreed to sign, and left anyway, and another side stating that Fedorov was never given that contract offer to begin with…
Hell, there’s even a hot rumor that the Red Wings considered bringing in Fedorov from the Washington Capitals in the lead-up to the team’s 2008 playoff run to play on defense, but the Wings were unwilling to trade a top prospect for Fedorov, and someone on the team nixed the trade…
But all is forgiven, but not forgotten, some 22 years after Fedorov left Detroit. And a wrong has been righted.
They’re going to #retire91
Next up?
I blame the 98 holdout on Ken Holland for playing hardball in his first season as full time GM of the Wings. No one brings that up but it should have never gotten to that point. Sergei deserved an extension as much as anyone in the prime of his career.