They celebrated Sergei, who dropped the ceremonial puck. Then they paid him tribute for -- well, for two periods. The third was an act of survival. On the night they rose his jersey into the rafters, the Red Wings rose to the occasion. In an ode to No. 91, they skated, they checked, they shot, they scored, and the building often roared. They took home two points against a Cup contender. That's how it used to look around here. That's how it's beginning to look again.
Sergei Fedorov's jersey retirement was a long time coming and a few years late, delayed by hard feelings stemming from decisions that he regrets. The Red Wings' rebuild has taken longer than anyone would have liked, Steve Yzerman maybe most of all. The Wings have spent most of the last decade burnishing their past, with so little to boast about in the present. On Monday night in Detroit, one finally matched the other.
"From my very first game," Fedorov told 19,515 fans at Little Caesars Arena, "you made me feel like I belonged here. You pushed us when we needed energy, and on the big nights -- The Joe shook."
Fedorov is 56 now. That didn't stop Red Wings coach Todd McLellan from quipping Monday morning, upon hearing that Fedorov had an honorary stall in the locker room, "Maybe we can play him!" With age comes perspective, and Fedorov admitted prior to Monday night's ceremony that when "you become famous at an early age, sometimes your decisions on the ice are not going to help you in real life. You’re not a very experienced person outside of the hockey rink."
Fedorov was 27 when he held out for the majority of his eighth season in Detroit and signed an offer sheet from the Hurricanes that forced the Red Wings to pay $28 million that year to keep him. He was 33 when he had another contract dispute with the Wings and ultimately took less money to sign with the Ducks, leaving behind the franchise and the family that whisked him to Detroit when he defected from the Soviet Union at the age of 20.
The boos he heard in his return to The Joe were the price. Fedorov was wounded that night, just like the fans. They have long since reconciled, but his relationship with the Ilitches was slower to heal. Before his jersey was hoisted into history, Fedorov told everyone in Little Caesars Arena that "I have had something in my mind, for a while, that I would like to share, and clear this tonight."
"Leaving Detroit when I did was a huge mistake," he said. "That is on me. There was one good thing that came out of that situation. It set me on the path to meeting the love of my life."
Fedorov turned to his wife and their two young children and hugged all three. He spent the rest of the night in a long embrace with Detroit. He took the ice for his ceremony in none other than a burgundy Corvette, the car synonymous with his career, still his favorite set of wheels. When the Wings came out for warmups, they wore his other set of wheels, their skates designed to look like the white Nikes that oozed Fedorov's ... aura. When they returned to the locker room, Fedorov awaited them in the fist-bump line alongside the children of some of the players who once idolized Sergei themselves.
"Just the way he skated," Dylan Larkin said Monday morning, "the flair, the speed, the power, growing up in Detroit you try to be like him. One of those guys that kids looked up to and wanted to have the style and the moves that he had."
Fedorov wasn't sure this night would ever come. In a smaller sense, neither were Larkin and the Red Wings. Until Chris Ilitch called last summer, Fedorov didn't know if he was worthy of "the greatest honor a team can do for a player who tried to play every game hard," in the eyes of the family he once walked out on. He was at peace with that. No one could ever take from him the three Stanley Cups and the indelible memories that marked his 13 years in Detroit. Yzerman rattled off a few of them Monday night to the delight of the crowd, including that "memorable Boxing Day game" against Washington in 1996: "Final score: Capitals 4, Sergei 5."
“We could’ve dressed a goalie and the Russian Five and we still would’ve won," Yzerman said.
Fedorov returned the love, on a night that it was in the air. He called Yzerman "the best captain I ever played with, who I learned more from than anybody else." As Yzerman appeared to be choking back some emotions, Fedorov, once a general manager himself of high-powered CSKA Moscow of the KHL, endorsed him in maybe an even more meaningful way: "Detroit, you are so lucky to have Stevie as your GM. I know from experience: It's the toughest job in the business to put a winning team on the ice."
The building almost erupted when Fedorov declared, "And I’m telling you, it’s only a matter of time until the Red Wings will lift another Stanley Cup, here, in Hockeytown!"
Fedorov's words might have rung hollow in years past. They carried more weight on a night the Red Wings were playing for first place in the East. As Larkin admitted that morning, "If you told anyone when we had this game circled on our calendar for Sergei’s night that that would be the case, we all would probably not believe it. But there’s belief in our room now."
"If it’s meant to be," Fedorov said of his jersey retirement, "the time will come."
Fedorov was a horse on skates, with greasy hands for hooves. He had the giddy-up to go with that Corvette. For a player known for his breakneck speed and blistering shot, he spoke pensively at times Monday night, thoughtful with every word. He wanted it to be clear just how deeply he was moved. It came straight from the heart when Fedorov said, "Detroit is home, always (has) been. No matter where I was."
"When I landed, I swear to God, every time in Detroit, I feel at ease," he said. "I breathe differently."
When he first landed, 36 years ago, his homeland in the rearview, a new life before him, Fedorov admitted that he "did not know what the future held. I didn't know if I'd stay, or succeed, or ever get the kind of love this city gives out." He gave it back Monday night. His voice reverberating through the arena in his thick Russian tongue, Fedorov looked toward the rafters and said he "never imagined a night like this, my number up there next to those legends."
"A career is made up of highs and lows, of lessons and victories," Fedorov said, measured at each turn. "Winning those Cups -- best ever. Every step, every moment, the good ones and the hard ones, brought me to this night and standing here with all of you fans. Being honored like this means more to me than I can describe. This is something I'll carry with me forever."
The Red Wings carried some of Fedorov into action against Carolina. They were hard on pucks and quick on their feet when the game began, grabbing an early lead on a power play goal by James van Riemsdyk. They pushed it to 3-0 early in the second on goals by Alex DeBrincat and Albert Johansson and the party was on. For 40 minutes, they played tight, connected hockey. For the final 20, they hung on for dear life as the Hurricanes turned the tides.
"In the past," said McLellan, "we probably don't win that game. The fact that we let it get away from us but we could still reel it back in, get a point at least and find a way to win in overtime, is a sign of graduation."
A fitting conclusion for Fedorov came on commencement night for the Red Wings. It was uncomfortable in the third, and frankly a bit sobering as the Wings absorbed blow after blow from an Eastern Conference heavyweight. And it was appropriate that it wasn't perfect. Fedorov authored a storybook career in Detroit, and an awkward exit. He nailed the epilogue Monday night, like his overtime goal on Boxing Day. And the Red Wings got the final word.
It came from Andrew Copp, one of Yzerman's least popular signings as Red Wings GM. In the fourth year of a deal worth as much as Fedorov got paid in the 1997-98 season alone, Copp's value has started to shine through on a line with DeBrincat and Patrick Kane. Late in overtime, the fans desperate for a happy ending, Copp freed himself in front of the net with a cross-check on Shayne Gostisbehere that was legal in the '90s -- and on this night in Detroit -- and tapped home a pass from DeBrincat to send the building into a frenzy. The video board flashed to Fedorov, who had his arms above his head as the goal horn he triggered so many times at The Joe blared throughout LCA.
It was the Red Wings' 60th point of the season, tied with the Hurricanes for most in the East, and their 15th win since the start of December, tied with the Avalanche for most in the NHL. It was Copp's 19th point in the past 20 games, easily his best stretch of hockey in Detroit.
"I try not to get too wrapped up in that," he said, "but I feel the best about our team that I've felt in a while. That's all that matters."
Everyone got wrapped up in a special night in Hockeytown. Fedorov said how proud he was to "represent this city, wearing this sweater." By chanting his name, the fans said how proud they are to call him their own. He said that he doesn't "take it lightly," being a Red Wing immortal, and that "I will never forget what you gave to me," in exchange for 13 years of moments that will live on forever.
"It's rightful that he's going up there," Larkin said Monday morning, "with the greatest players in Red Wings history."
And Monday night, with Sergei Fedorov in the building, it's rightful that the Red Wings were back up there with the top teams in the league.