Sergei Fedorov could be seen all over the ice in his 25 years in hockey, scoring over 1,000 points in the NHL while winning two Selke Trophies for best defensive forward. His skating was nearly unmatched and at times played centre, wing and defence.
He won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and was part of the team’s “Russian Five” alongside Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Konstantinov. Along with Alexander Mogilny and Pavel Bure, Fedorov was one of the first Russian hockey players to defect to the NHL from the Soviet Union and scored 31 goals and 79 points in 1990-91, his rookie season.
Fedorov is just one goal ahead of Alexander Ovechkin for most goals by a Russian-born NHLer with 483.
“I’m glad that it is Alexander Ovechkin who will break my NHL record among Russian players,” Fedorov told the New York Times. “We are friends for a long time, played shoulder to shoulder in Washington and Team Russia. We discussed playing the game a lot, and I’d like to believe that my advice helped him somewhere.”
74th: Draft position in 1989 (Detroit Red Wings)
4: NHL clubs – Detroit, Anaheim, Columbus, Washington
1,248: Games played in the NHL
483: Goals scored (49th all-time)
696: Assists (56th all-time)
1,179: Points (49th all-time and first Russian to reach 1,000)
93: Game-winning Goals (10th all-time)
+261: Plus/Minus (35th all-time)
56-64-120: Best career points total (Goals, assists, points – 1993-94)
6: All-Star Game appearances
3: Stanley Cup victories (1997, ’98, 2002)
2: Frank J. Selke awards (1994, ’96)
1: Hart Trophies (First European-trained player to win, 1994)
1: World Junior Championship gold (1989)
2: World Championship golds (1989, 1990)
2: Olympic Games (Silver – 1998, Bronze – 2002)
Fedorov, outside of his trademark white Nike skates, could also be found all over television in the ’90s as the star of a series of Nike commercials.
Watch this first one of Fedorov not only out-classing an entire group of NHLers, but throwing shade on figure skating in general.
Then, watch another Nike ad in which Fedorov has forced his victimized goaltenders to find other work (and check out Eddie Kaye Thomas – or “Finch” from “American Pie” – and Rob McElhenney – or “Mac” from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.)
