Fedorov ending.

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

• 1 – Terry Sawchuk (1949-55, 1957-64, 1968-69)
• 4 – Red Kelly (1947-60)
• 5 – Nicklas Lidstrom (1991-12)
• 7 – Ted Lindsay (1947-57, 1964-65)
• 9 – Gordie Howe (1946-71)
• 10 – Alex Delvecchio (1951-73)
• 12 – Sid Abel (1938-43, 1945-52)
• 19 – Steve Yzerman (1983-06)

Leave aside the alleged hurt feelings over the contract negotiation, which many claim in the only reason he is not in the rafters. Is Sergei's work history in this rarefied air?

3 Stanley cups, 4 finals, 4 consecutive 20 point postseasons, 2 100 point seasons, 2 selkes, a hart, a Pearson, runner up for the Calder, runner up for the Selke and should have won 2 more.

Yes. He is.

 

[norrisnick]

Fedorov is at worst the 6th best player in franchise history.

 

[cjm502]

I don't think anybody would argue Fedorov over any of Sawchuk, Lidstrom, Howe, or Yzerman. So I won't bother posting those stats.

Comparing numbers for games played with Detroit:

Kelly, 846GP, 162-310-472PTS, -9, 253PIM, 4 Cups

Lindsay, 862GP, 335-393-728PTS, +10, 173PIM, 4 Cups

Delvecchio, 1550GP, 456-825-1281PTS, +24, 383PIM, 3 Cups

Abel, 570GP, 183-280-463PTS, +49, 366PIM, 3 Cups

Fedorov, 908GP, 400-554-954PTS, +276, 587PIM, 3 Cups

Shout-out to Delvecchio - I had no idea he was that productive. At a minimum, I don't see how anybody could not think that Fedorov is in the discussion with Abel and likely Kelly. Playing over 900 games with better than PPG scoring while putting up that filthy plus minus is damn impressive.

Ill bite, arguments can be made for all of them. Aside from 42 games at the end of his career, Sid Abel played his entire career with Detroit. Red Kelly was part of the legendary 50s team that won 4 cups in 6 years, and although he played 13 seasons with the Wings like Fedorov, he only played 8 professionally elsewhere while Fedorov played 14 elsewhere. Ted Lindsay put his career on the line starting the players union. Every retired player aside from Sawchuk wore the C for the Wings, but we all know its a real rarity for a goalie to wear a C. Fedorov played most of his career elsewhere, and never wore the C, two things all of those players have on him.

The Detroit franchise is 98 years old going back to the Detroit Cougars days, and if you include the Victoria Cougars days which the team was born from, it goes back to 1911. In all those years, there are 8 jerseys retired. Hypothetically, if Dylan Larkin plays his career with the Wings and retires at 38 with the C on his sweater that would be 15 straight years as the captain and that might make him next in line. Its a super exclusive club.

I guess if you look at everything you think would qualify him, it seems like an easy yes. Then you look at everything that may disqualify him, and it gets a lot tougher.

 

[norrisnick]

The Ilitches took Larry Aurie's number out of the rafters. I don't respect their decision making in this realm.

 

[jkutswings]

Ill bite, arguments can be made for all of them. Aside from 42 games at the end of his career, Sid Abel played his entire career with Detroit. Red Kelly was part of the legendary 50s team that won 4 cups in 6 years, and although he played 13 seasons with the Wings like Fedorov, he only played 8 professionally elsewhere while Fedorov played 14 elsewhere. Ted Lindsay put his career on the line starting the players union. Every retired player aside from Sawchuk wore the C for the Wings, but we all know its a real rarity for a goalie to wear a C. Fedorov played most of his career elsewhere, and never wore the C, two things all of those players have on him.

The Detroit franchise is 98 years old going back to the Detroit Cougars days, and if you include the Victoria Cougars days which the team was born from, it goes back to 1911. In all those years, there are 8 jerseys retired. Hypothetically, if Dylan Larkin plays his career with the Wings and retires at 38 with the C on his sweater that would be 15 straight years as the captain and that might make him next in line. Its a super exclusive club.

I guess if you look at everything you think would qualify him, it seems like an easy yes. Then you look at everything that may disqualify him, and it gets a lot tougher.

I guess it comes down what people care about. I don't give a rat's ass how many years somebody played for another team. I only care about how they impacted the game while they were here.

Had Wayne Gretzky played 2-3 seasons for the Wings, scored 200 points annually, and won the Art Ross, Hart Trophy, and Conn Smythe as part of bringing one or more Cups to Detroit, he could've played two decades for anybody else and I'd still say he has an argument for jersey retirement.

Conversely, if Dylan Larkin plays another decade for Detroit but neither he nor the team win any major hardware, I'd never even consider him for the rafters. He's a very good player but nowhere near an all-time great, regardless of "time served".

 

[Retire91]

It's nice to hear some things come out from Fedorov himself that pretty much line up with everything has been discussed about the situation. That he was not in a great mental place at the time and the wings did pull the offer. Especially with Federov's financial situation where he had to sue his financial advisor who stole money from him. I think Fedorov left a lot of the business side of his life up to others to his own detriment. So ultimately its unfortunate that this had happened, but unfortunately it did. I really enjoyed that he got invited to the alumni game. I thought that was a really great move by all parties.

 

[MK9]

Yes. Absolutely.

 

[Macoun]

We don’t win those 3 Stanley cups without him so he deserves his jersey retired. He was the best player on our team for many years

 

[HisNoodliness]

We don’t win those 3 Stanley cups without him so he deserves his jersey retired. He was the best player on our team for many years

Honestly, without Fedorov, Yzerman is probably known as the best player ever to never win the cup. Instead of the heart and soul, the captain, guy that can will his team to the win, Stevie Y would be eternally derided as one of the productive guys without the ability to win. Think about how sad that future would have made all of us and then consider whether 91's contributions are worthy.

To me it's easy. If our rathers were Howe, Lindstrom, and Yzerman, then sure, I'd see an argument against Fedorov. As is? You have to be bitter about his exit (which is fair).

 

[Henkka]

I'd rather retire both Datsyuk & Zetterberg, because they were 100% Red Wings on their careers.

 

[jkutswings]

I'd rather retire both Datsyuk & Zetterberg, because they were 100% Red Wings on their careers.

So it's ok to trade Datsyuk to Arizona, and the Coyotes take Chychrun while the Wings select Cholowski...but Fedorov doesn't deserve his jersey retired?

 

[Oddbob]

I don't get why anyone is against Fedorov for leaving. He didn't do anything wrong by doing so, and he more than played well enough and prominent enough a role of getting his jersey retired. To me the Illitch family is a little babyish in this matter as they only show loyalty to a point and have no problem getting rid of players that they didn't like. Why do players have to have some higher level of loyalty to the team?

 

[Oddbob]

We don’t win those 3 Stanley cups without him so he deserves his jersey retired. He was the best player on our team for many years

This right here is reason enough for him to be in the rafters. How many other Wings from those teams aside from Yzerman and Lidstrom and possibly Shanny can we say we don't win the Cup without? Not many if any?

 

[izlez]

The only people who think it shouldn’t be retired are the Illitches, Devellano, and butthurt fans. It’s just sour grapes from ownership who think business is personal.

What an odd way to word things. "It's only this one family, this one guy....... and ~100,000 other people"

 

[MabusIncarnate]

So it's ok to trade Datsyuk to Arizona, and the Coyotes take Chychrun while the Wings select Cholowski...but Fedorov doesn't deserve his jersey retired?

Regardless of your stance on the issue, the Datsyuk trade was nothing like Fedorov going to Anaheim. Not sure why you would even compare the two. Datsyuk did it for a cap dump and never played a single game there, and never intended to. Fedorov went on to play multiple seasons in a non-Wings uniform.

 

[heyfolks]

The Ilitches took Larry Aurie's number out of the rafters. I don't respect their decision making in this realm.

I have to agree. Have they done anything to honor the guy? If they don't want his number in the rafters, you would think they would do something. Name the practice rink after him, have a wall of honor or display of his work. This one just doesn't reflect what we had come to expect from Mr. I and a 1st class operation.

I am with Norris on this one. Unless Yzerman leads them to the Cup AND is a nagging whisper in the ear of the family, I see this one as personal.