Sergei Fedorov has been named the head coach of CSKA Moscow, the KHL team announced Wednesday.
Fedorov, a hockey Hall of Famer and three-time Stanley Cup champion, had recently been working as a member of CSKA's front office on its supervisory board and will replace Igor Nikitin behind the bench.
The reason for Nikitin's departure was not immediately clear. In June of 2020, he agreed to a three-year deal as CSKA's head coach.
Fedorov, one of the first hockey players to defect from the Soviet Union in order to play in the NHL, enjoyed an illustrious 18-season career in North America. A three-time Cup winner as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, Fedorov also earned the Hart Trophy in 1994, becoming the first Russian-born player to achieve the feat.
Internationally, Fedorov helped Russia win the world hockey championships three times and owns two Olympic medals, a silver from 1998 and a bronze from 2002.
After his departure from the Red Wings in 2003, Fedorov played for Anaheim, Columbus and Washington before retiring in 2009. In all, he played 1,248 games in the NHL, scoring 483 goals and totalling 1,179 points, the first player from Russia to eclipse the 1000-point plateau.
Fedorov went on to play three more seasons of professional hockey in the KHL as a member of Metallurg Magnitogorsk, participating in an all-star game each year. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
