A night that was years in the making unfolded at Little Caesars Arena on Monday evening in downtown Detroit, as the iconic No. 91 jersey of former Detroit Red Wings Hall of Fame forward Sergei Fedorov was officially retired and raised to the rafters.
One of the greatest players in team history, Fedorov endeared himself to the fans of Hockeytown over 13 seasons with the club, during which he scored exactly 400 goals while also playing an integral role in their 1997, 1998, and 2002 Stanley Cup wins.
Fedorov, whom the Red Wings selected with the 74th pick in the 1989 NHL Draft and first arrived in Detroit after famously defecting from the Iron Curtain of the soon-to-be-fallen Soviet Union in 1990, began his NHL career under head coach Bryan Murray.
But in 1993, the Red Wings hired Scotty Bowman, who was already regarded as perhaps the greatest coach in the history of the sport.
Just as he did with Steve Yzerman, Bowman helped Fedorov become a special two-way player who was just as good on the defensive side of the puck as he was offensively. In fact, Bowman sometimes even played Fedorov as a defenseman.
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Prior to his official jersey retirement ceremony, Fedorov explained that the greatest lesson that he learned while playing under Bowman was
"First of all, no matter how difficult things are going not your way hockey-wise, Scotty always was calm, leveled, and came to the locker room to talk to use without, if I may say, any panic in his voice," Fedorov said after taking a moment to contemplate. "He just basically addressed the issue in what we have to get better at."
"No matter how bad we lose, no matter how good we played, it was the same manner," Fedorov continued. "Because after a few seasons, when we couldn't get the job done, in other words, to win the Cup, we understood one thing - it was all in our hands."
Under Bowman, the Red Wings reached heights they hadn’t seen in decades, rising to the top of the hockey world three times, including back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998.
Before arriving in Detroit, Bowman famously led the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s, winning the Stanley Cup in 1973 and from 1976 through 1979, and later coached the Pittsburgh Penguins to the 1992 Stanley Cup.
He retired after guiding the Red Wings to their third Stanley Cup championship in six years in 2002, his ninth as a head coach, a record that still stands today.
It was that experience that particularly stood out to Fedorov.
"Scotty was just that kind of person, obviously an experienced person," Fedorov said. "He knew before the game if we were going to win or not, I have no doubt in my mind. Lately, I've analyzed it and come to that conclusion.
"And he was just sort of cool in the sense that he gave so much belief, confidence, and guidance from his demeanor when he came to speak to us - in any situation, bad or good."
While Bowman himself wasn't able to personally attend the ceremony on Monday evening, he was one of several who recorded a special video message as part of the proceedings.
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