DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings retired Sergei Fedorov’s No. 91 jersey Monday night, honoring the Russian great more than a decade after he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“Detroit is home, always been — no matter where I was,” he said.
Fedorov left the city in 2003, signing with the then-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Five years earlier, as a restricted free agent, he signed an offer sheet to play for the Carolina Hurricanes, but the Red Wings matched the offer and he stayed in Detroit.
“Leaving Detroit when I did was a huge mistake,” the 56-year-old Fedorov said during a pregame ceremony before Detroit’s 4-3 overtime win against Carolina. “That is on me.”
The dynamic, two-way center became the ninth player to have his jersey retired by the Red Wings, joining, among other, Hall of Famers Gordie Howe, Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman.
The Red Wings drafted Fedorov in the fourth round in 1989 and helped him defect from the Soviet Union in 1990 while he was in country for the Goodwill Games.
After Fedorov got off the team bus in Portland, Oregon, he saw Red Wings executive Jim Lites in the hotel lobby — reading a newspaper as planned — and they slipped out a side door, into a limousine and onto a private plane.
“I always admired the courage,” said Yzerman, a former teammate and the franchise’s current general manager.
Fedorov was part of the Red Wings’ “Russian Five,” which helped Detroit win Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998. He was an All-Star six times in his 13 seasons with the franchise and won a third Stanley Cup with the team in 2002.
He became the first European to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1994. He was the first Red Wing to win the award since Howe in 1963 — and is the most recent player to win it for the franchise.
“The rare combination of skill, speed and power made him one of the best all-around players in the game’s history,” Yzerman said.
Fedorov went on to play for the Ducks, Columbus and Washington, and had 483 goals and 1,179 points over his career.
Fedorov ended his career during the 2008-09 season with the Capitals, playing with fellow Russian and Olympic teammate Alex Ovechkin.
“One of the best players I’ve ever played with,” Ovechkin said in a video tribute.
Fedorov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015, his first year of eligibility.
The Red Wings retired Yzerman’s and Lidstrom’s jerseys shortly after they retired, but team ownership was more deliberate about sealing Fedorov’s legacy with the franchise.
Fedorov said he was humbled to earn a place alongside “those legends” near the roof in Little Caesars Arena.
“It’s surreal — in the best way,” he said, choking up.
