до свидания, сeргей
(Goodbye, Sergei)
On Saturday morning, it was announced that former Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov signed a 5 year deal for $40 million dollars. He left the only team he played for in the NHL to play for a team that will give him the "respect" and minutes he needed to be a force in the game of hockey.
NHL star Fedorov was drafted 74th overall (4th Round) in the 1989 draft. He was playing, at the time, for the Russian National team. He defected in Seattle at the Goodwill Games and was flown into Detroit on Mike Illitch's, the owner of the Red Wings, private jet. He was considered by the Red Wings as one of the most talented players in the world.
In the '93-'94 season, he scored a career high 120 points (56 goals, 64 assists). That same year, he also won the Hart Trophy for most valuable player in the league and the Selke Trophy for the best defensive forward.
In the '96-'97 year, he helped the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. He was starting to be known as a clutch playoff performer, in addition to his good regular season numbers.
After that season, Sergei's contract expired and negotiations got a little nasty. Since he was a restricted free agent, he could not sign with another team, without that team compensating the Red Wings for the loss of Fedorov. The compensation was 5 first round draft picks. The Carolina Hurricanes signed Sergei to an offer sheet for a six year deal worth $38 million. The contract had a clause that said if the team he played for got to the conference finals, he would earn an $18 million bonus. Carolina did not have a great team, so they probably wouldn't have made the conference finals but there was a good chance that Detroit would. Detroit matched that offer, even after Sergei said he didn't want to play for Detroit again. When Sergei resumed playing for the Red Wings, the fans welcomed him back with mixed cheers, but eventually all came around once his play showed little signs of rust. Sergei helped Detroit to a second straight Stanley Cup that year as well.
The next few seasons saw Sergei's numbers decline to the 30 goals/30 assists level. He always wanted to be the number one center for the team. The problem was the Red Wings already had Steve Yzerman, the captain and heart of the team, as their number one center, so Sergei had to play as the second line center getting less minutes and according to him, fewer chances to score.
Also in this same time period, the Red Wings' coach Scotty Bowman had been toying with different ways of getting him to produce more. Sergei was moved back to defense to get the ice time he so badly wanted. Even this failed to improve his numbers, but he was quickly becoming an even better two-way forward (good in offense and defense).
In the '01-'02 season, Fedorov continued on his 30/30 pace, but in the second half of the season, Yzerman hurt his knee and was out. Fedorov was now the number one guy. He took the minutes Yzerman would have gotten and picked up his game. Yzerman returned for the playoffs but he was still hampered by his knee and was put on the wing to Fedorov's center. The Red Wings again won the Stanley Cup and Fedorov played a prominent role.
In the off season, Yzerman underwent knee surgery that would put him out most of the season. Again, while Yzerman was gone, Fedorov was the number one center for the Red Wings. Fedorov picked up his scoring pace with the added minutes and ended up averaging just over a point a game.
During this season, knowing that Fedorov was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, Red Wings' owner Mike Illitch personally offered Fedorov a 5 year deal for $50 million. Fedorov was in the middle of changing agents so he asked for more time. Fedorov's new agent told Red Wings' management that he was looking for a long term deal for $11-$12 million a year.
(The NHL is currently in the middle of a transition. The Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs the league expires after the '03-'04 season. High player salaries are hurting teams that don't have a big market to generate revenue. There's a clear distinction between the haves and have nots.)
Red Wings' management, led by GM Ken Holland knew that there weren't many teams able to pay Fedorov $11-$12 million a year, so they thought their offer of $10 million a year was fair. The Red Wings got swept in the first round of the playoffs of this season in a series where not many of the players played well. After this series, when Fedorov's agent and Holland began negotiating again, the offer was reduced to 4 years/$40 million, which is still a good offer. Again, Sergei balked at the offer and headed for free agency.
On the second day of free agency, Fedorov's agent told the Detroit media that he would not return to Detroit. Two weeks after that, Sergei's agent backtracked on his words and started to negotiate with the Red Wings again. In the end, however, Fedorov decided to sign with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
What he said all along is that hockey is a business and if he left, he left. In Anaheim, he's getting a chance to be the number one guy, to live in Southern California(where he always expressed a wish to live) and to play somewhere where the fans will respect him.
To this, I would respond that Detroit fans have always respected your talent, Sergei. Detroit is a blue collar town. With the auto industry, people here work hard for their money. Unfair or not, we expect nothing less from the players on our sports teams. Yzerman became a legend in Detroit because not ONLY because of his talent, but also because of his work ethic. Sergei's work ethic did not approach Yzerman's and because of this, there was a perception that the fans didn't respect Fedorov.
So long Sergei, run along to Anaheim. Oh, and don't worry about that pesky fan respect thing, you're moving to an area where all you have to do to look good is to look flashy. I'm sure you can handle that...
Posted by Simkin at July 21, 2003 08:00 PM | TrackBack