Sergei Fedorov

Sergei Viktorovich Fyodorov (Серге́й Викторович Фёдоров; born December 13, 1969) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the current head coach of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

During his playing career, for which he is best known for his 13 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, Fedorov was primarily a centre, but occasionally played as a winger or defenceman.

Fedorov was one of the first hockey players to defect from his native Soviet Union in order to play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

In 1989, Mogilny became the first Soviet superstar to defect in order to play in the NHL.

Less than two months later, Fedorov was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round, 74th overall, of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft.

Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano had consulted team captain and future Hall-of-Famer Steve Yzerman about Fedorov, knowing that the two had played against each other in the World Championships.

Yzerman told Devellano, "He's better than me."

Detroit sportswriter Keith Gave was asked by Wings executive vice-president Jim Lites to pass a secret message to Fedorov at an exhibition game in Helsinki where the Soviet national team was scheduled to play a Finnish elite-level club.

Gave agreed to the mission, and in August 1989, managed to meet with Fedorov and teammate Vladimir Konstantinov, whom the Wings had also drafted, and slip them each a Red Wings media guide with a letter hidden inside.

The letters made it clear that the Red Wings wanted both of them in Detroit and were willing to help them get there.

Fedorov was considered one of the best players in the world from the 1990s to the early 2000s.

By July 1990, Fedorov had decided to defect.

The Soviet national team came to North America to play in the 1990 Goodwill Games, and had scheduled an exhibition match in Portland's Memorial Coliseum on July 22, 1990.

Jim Lites came to Portland, picked up Fedorov outside his hotel after the game, and brought him to Detroit in Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch's private jet.

Fedorov was described as "three great players in one".

In his career, he "once held claim to the title of top player on the planet".

Former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said Fedorov was the "best skater I've ever seen".

During the 1993–94 season, Fedorov's outstanding play earned him the "oldest and most prestigious individual award in hockey", the Hart Memorial Trophy (awarded to the NHL's most valuable player), the Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward) and the Lester B. Pearson Award (awarded to the most outstanding player as selected by NHL players).

He finished second in scoring behind the Los Angeles Kings' Wayne Gretzky with 56 goals and 120 points.

During the 1993–94 season, being interviewed before his game, Gretzky was talking about a December 17 game between the Red Wings and New York Rangers, saying, "[H]e had never seen a player dominate the game the way Sergei did."

Later in the season, Gretzky also commented that he thought Fedorov was "the best player in the game at this point."

While playing with Detroit, he won the Stanley Cup three times, as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1994.

Fedorov was introduced to Gretzky by Paul Coffey during the 1994 NHL All-Star Game, which led to him staying over at his Los Angeles home with his family for two weeks that year.

Playing in his second game after coming back from an injury, Steve Yzerman was asked about Fedorov's play during the season: "I've only seen two other players that can dominate a game like Sergei, and that's Wayne and Mario ... In my opinion, he's the best player in the League. He is different than Wayne and Mario because he dominates with his speed, and unbelievable one-on-one moves."

Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman was also asked in an interview during the season where he thought Fedorov ranked among the players and teams he has coached in his career: "He's right at the top. He's got the greatest leg strength I've seen in a player. His legs are phenomenal."

In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, Fedorov finished second on the Red Wings in points with 50 (20 goals and 30 assists) in 42 games.

That season, in a game against Los Angeles on February 12, Fedorov scored all four of Detroit's goals in a 4–4 tie.

Although the Red Wings lost the Stanley Cup Finals that year to the New Jersey Devils, Fedorov led the playoffs in all scoring with 24 points (seven goals and 17 assists).

He also led the Stanley Cup Finals in goals and led the Red Wings in points.

Fedorov won another Selke Trophy in 1996 after scoring 39 goals and 107 points in 78 games, while playing stellar defensively.

He finished in the top five for Hart Trophy voting and led Detroit in scoring, and helped them win the Presidents' Trophy.

That season, Detroit set an NHL record for wins in a season with 62.

After leaving the Red Wings in the summer of 2003, Fedorov played stints with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals before retiring from the NHL in 2009.

He played in over 1,200 NHL games and scored 483 goals in the NHL.

He is a three-time Olympian, the first European-trained player to win the Hart Trophy and is considered to be one of the best playoff performers in NHL history.

He last played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, where he was made captain in early September 2011.

He was also an ambassador for Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Fedorov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 9, 2015, and to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2016.

When he was just 16, Fedorov was already playing for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet Union with future NHL Hall-of-Famer Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny, among others.

In 2017, Fedorov was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.