Fedor Fedorov

[12ozPapa]

How come he never made it? He put up ok numbers in the AHL ,had great size and some talent. I know he didn't report to the AHL but what was the big reason for his game not translating to the NHL?

 

[JA]

He had the talent but not the mind for or the commitment to the game. He had an attitude that caused him to clash with his teammates and coaches, and was traded by the Canucks for Jozef Balej after unsuccessful stints with the big club. He played well in both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 preseasons but then fell apart at the start of each regular season campaign. He said some odd things as well. With Marc Crawford as coach and Brian Burke as GM, there was a very short leash for players like that.

The report below from 2003 summarizes the issue well:


Here's an article by Pierre Lebrun about an infamous incident at a bar between Fedor Fedorov and Kevin Bieksa:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/8493/the-punch-that-led-kevin-bieksa-to-canucks

The punch that led Kevin Bieksa to Canucks
By Pierre LeBrun | ESPN.com

And to think, it was a punch in a Winnipeg parking lot that helped get playoff hero Kevin Bieksa his first pro contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

What, you say?

Enter former Canucks GM Brian Burke, who on Tuesday recounted to ESPN.com the story of Bieksa and the Canucks, which began in Winnipeg near the end of the 2003-04 season.

"He played his four years at Bowling Green. They were eliminated from the playoffs, and we brought him to Manitoba [AHL] on a PTO [professional tryout]," Burke said. "One night after a game in Winnipeg, in which I don't think he played, they went to a local establishment. Fedor Fedorov was sitting at a table and Bieksa walked by the table, bumped him by accident and spilled Fedorov's beer. Bieksa apologized and offered to buy another beer."

According to Burke, Fedorov was in no mood for the apology from the unknown rookie and challenged him to a fight outside. Bieksa again tried to defuse the situation, according to Burke, but Fedorov wanted to fight.

"So, they go outside. Fedor was a big guy, he was a lot bigger than his brother Sergei," said Burke. "Then Fedor comes in and Bieksa drills him with one punch. Knocks him stone cold and cut wide-open and leaves him lying on the pavement."

Burke said Bieksa figured he was done with the Canucks organization and would be sent home the next day.

"Send him home? I said, 'We're going to sign him tomorrow,'" said Burke, whose affinity for truculence is well-established.

Bieksa played 80 games with the Moose the following season before graduating to the Canucks in 2005-06.

Attitude issues and a lack of interest in helping the team or improving as a player.

 

[Jumptheshark]

no heart and thought he was better then he was and he did stuff off of the ice that was silly

an observation was made that he wares out his welcome in places quickly. Happened in junior and has continued in the KHL. I know a few Tampa fans were very happy he went back into the draft

 

[Padan]

I remember his short stint in SEL (Malmo, Sweden). As impressed as I was by his individual skills, I'm not at all surprised that he couldn't make it in the NHL. Not only had he a bad attitude, he also had the mentality of a five-year-old and it was quite easy to get under his skin (106 PIM in just 18 games...).

I'll never forget an interview that was published shortly after he left Sweden. He said that he was satisfied by his tenure there, since he lead the team in scoring during the qualification series. He just didn't seem to give a rat's ass by the fact that the team was relegated, and that he didn't produce at all in the last crucial games.
Now that's your Fedor Fedorov.

 

[connellc]

I"m another fan that saw him play for the Spitfires in his Jr year. His first shift on the ice, he went through a forward and two defensemen and I thought we had an incredibly talented player on our team. Needless to say, the rest of the year he floated then got traded to the Wolves only to put up big numbers. His attitude was really poor.

 

[pdd]

Fedor Fedorov and Valeri Bure are two players I think are not terribly dissimilar.

Both had incredible talent, not unlike their more famous and successful older brothers.

But both had mental blocks preventing them from succeeding in the NHL; Fedor more so than Valeri (who still managed over 600 NHL games despite a ****** attitude).

If they had the same attitude as their brothers, it wouldn't be surprising to see Fedor with some serious stats and the Fedorovs as one of the highest scoring pairs of brothers (not sure where they rank right now). We'd probably also have conversations now and then about "Who was better, Valeri or Pavel" because Valeri didn't seem to be as injury prone (though he still had issues) and quite possibly would have ended up with more points than Pavel due to a longer career; he might even still be playing now; he's only 38 - he retired after the 2004-05 lockout to focus on family (he had signed with the Kings and gone through their training camp, but did not play an actual regular season game.)

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

the word is spoiled.

fedor was what, twelve years younger than sergei? he's like 8 or 9 when he and his mother move to detroit, grows up basically a millionaire, plus god-given skill most third line NHLers could even dream of. and he's huge. i don't think he ever thought he'd ever have to do any heavy lifting the way he grew up.

whereas valeri was a hardworking guy, just with less skill than pavel and with a smaller, more fragile body. you know that for both bure brothers, their joints broke down so early because their dad trained them to the bone way too early-- while they were still growing-- right?

 

[Big Phil]

One thing about him, he looked just like Sergei. Almost identical. On the ice they were different though. Sergei himself had times when he coasted but come playoff time he never did that.

I always felt Fedor was a player who we would have never heard any press from if his name was Fedor "Smith". The fact he was Sergei's younger brother gave him more press than he deserved. He was one of a few brothers around that time that never panned out and really only got attention because of their name. Brett Lindros and Brent Gretzky come to mind. Steve Kariya is another one although I was privately rooting for that little guy to succeed.

 

[skroonk2002*]

Anyone have a video of Sergei Fedorov and Fedor Fedorov in that Russian pop music video?

 

[alko]

But both had mental blocks preventing them from succeeding in the NHL...

i often read this words, when it comes to draft busts. Can you tell me more about it? what is it this "mental block"?

 

[Big Phil]

i often read this words, when it comes to draft busts. Can you tell me more about it? what is it this "mental block"?

Lack of hockey sense. Or unable to focus on the game. A guy like Rico Fata seems to fall into that category. You can skate like the wind but without hockey sense you aren't going to put the puck anywhere. Fata had a lot of those mental blocks.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

One thing about him, he looked just like Sergei. Almost identical. On the ice they were different though. Sergei himself had times when he coasted but come playoff time he never did that.

I always felt Fedor was a player who we would have never heard any press from if his name was Fedor "Smith". The fact he was Sergei's younger brother gave him more press than he deserved. He was one of a few brothers around that time that never panned out and really only got attention because of their name. Brett Lindros and Brent Gretzky come to mind. Steve Kariya is another one although I was privately rooting for that little guy to succeed.

Its interesting that in earlier eras the younger brothers of Hull, The Rocket, Mahovlich, Esposito excelled in their own way. Big names to live up to. But I suppose there are just as many failures from that era too.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

One thing about him, he looked just like Sergei. Almost identical. On the ice they were different though. Sergei himself had times when he coasted but come playoff time he never did that.

I always felt Fedor was a player who we would have never heard any press from if his name was Fedor "Smith". The fact he was Sergei's younger brother gave him more press than he deserved. He was one of a few brothers around that time that never panned out and really only got attention because of their name. Brett Lindros and Brent Gretzky come to mind. Steve Kariya is another one although I was privately rooting for that little guy to succeed.

let us not forget gilbert dionne.


funnily, the canucks had fedor fedorov and sean pronger (who was older than chris) on their roster at the same time. they'd cut bait on steve kariya the year before they picked up those guys. at the time i lamented that we never put together a "crappy brothers" line of kariya - pronger - fedorov. actually, i still lament that; how awesome would it have been to have a photo of the backs of those guys' jerseys in canucks colours as they're lining up for a faceoff?