Red Wings warming to Sergei Fedorov’s number retirement?
So will Brad Richards wear No. 91 with his new team, the Detroit Red Wings?
We only ask because, technically, it’s available. Sergei Fedorov, the only player to have worn it, doesn’t have it retired despite 908 games and 954 points and three Stanley Cups with Detroit.
Why? Well, there was that holdout in 1997-98 that resulted in his signing an offer sheet with owner Mike Ilitch’s mortal enemy Peter Karmanos, Jr. and the Carolina Hurricanes. And there was that bitter split in 2003, when Fedorov signed a 5-year, $40-million deal with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, spurning an offer from Detroit over one year difference in the contracts.
He retired from hockey in 2012, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame last week.
Should the Red Wings hold off on giving Brad Richards No. 91 and put it in the rafters instead?
GM Ken Holland, who watched Fedorov leave for Anaheim 12 years ago, says they’ll talk about it.
“[Red Wings VP] Jimmy Devellano, Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch, at the appropriate time I’ll weigh in … we’ll talk about whether or not his number should be retired. Certainly, with him going into the Hall of Fame, it’s a great accomplishment. Worth serious consideration,” said Holland on Thursday.
Holland said that the Red Wings have made some fairly easy calls on number retirements in the last few years, with Steve Yzerman (2007) and Nicklas Lidstrom (2014) joining the likes of Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Terry Sawchuk, Alex Delvecchio and Sid Abel.
“It’s a little easier to make a decision when a player plays 20 years for you, and he retires and it’s Steve Yzerman or it’s Nick Lidstrom. Those are decisions made pretty quickly,” he said. “At the end of [Fedorov’s] career, we tried to re-sign him and he ended up leaving. Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom here, who finished their incredible careers here, the following year we put their jerseys into the rafters. Sergei will take a little bit of time to discuss.”
Holland noted that the only criteria for number retirement is what that player did for the Red Wings, not in the totality of his career. Were it the latter criteria instead, the Red Wings might have about 10 guys from the 2002 team retired, for example.
“It’s what they accomplish with the Detroit Red Wings vs. what they accomplished in their careers. You take a little bit of time to make sure that the jerseys that go in the rafters are very special,” he said. “Sergei will certainly be discussed.”
Number retirement is a very local, very specific debate that frankly the national media has no sway or say in. That established: Sergei Fedorov was third only to Yzerman and Lidstrom during the Wings’ decade of domination, and he’s currently fifth in franchise scoring while with the Wings (with Datsyuk gaining at 869 points).
No. 91 should hang from the rafters. And sorry Brad Richards, but No. 19 is taken too.
