Jeff Seidel | Detroit Free Press

Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press

Vladimir Konstantinov, a former Detroit Red Wings defenseman, picked out the shirt and tie he will wear Saturday night when he is inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

“He is very excited about Saturday,” James Bellanca Jr., Konstantinov’s longtime lawyer and friend, said. “He knows something special is happening. Whether he can comprehend the meaning of it, I don’t know.”

And that’s the part that breaks your heart.

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A look back: Detroit Red Wings' Vladimir Konstantinov's career

Konstantinov is one of the most beloved athletes in Detroit sports history. He was known as the Vladinator, a tough, physical defender from Russia who helped the Wings win the 1997 Stanley Cup, ending a 42-year drought.

But he also is one of the most tragic athletes in Detroit sports history, suffering a career-ending, life-threatening spinal cord injury in a limo crash just six days after winning the Cup.

Twenty-two years later, Konstantinov lives in a condo in West Bloomfield, where he gets the best care available. His wife and daughter live in Florida but visit regularly. He requires 24-hour assistance from a team of caregivers, who have been with him for years. “I think he’s happy,” Bellanca said. “There are three or four ladies who take care of him, most of whom have been with him for 18 or 20 years. Those ladies are wonderful. They treat him like their child.”

The women cook his meals, feed him, bathe him and help him get dressed. Most of the caregivers speak Russian because he has a tendency to mix English with his native tongue. “He speaks both Russian and English, not very much of either, but he can communicate, and he responds to either,” Bellanca said. “I think he’s comfortable with his surroundings and the people who take care of him.”

Konstantinov lives a simple life. He goes to rehab, spends time at Costco — he enjoys shopping — likes to go bowling and thoroughly enjoys being around people. He can get around using a walker and loves to play Uno, the card game.

“He cheats!” Bellanca said, laughing.

'That part of his brain is gone'

Bellanca sits in a corner office at his law firm in Harper Woods. He faces a computer and clicks on a video about Konstantinov, which was made for a court case.

Nobody from the public has ever seen it, Bellanca said.

“A lot of people who knew him well would say, ‘If he’s not the perfect guy, he’s almost the perfect one,' ” Irina Konstantinov, Vladdy’s wife, said in the video. “Honest. Hardworking. Good to everyone. I don’t think he ever hurt anyone in his life, either physically or emotionally, except maybe on the ice.”

Irina will not be attending the Hall of Fame induction because she is heading to Russia to care for her elderly mother, Bellanca said. And though she declined an interview request from the Free Press, Irina did give Bellanca permission to show the video to the newspaper.

“Every day, when he wakes up, I don’t think he’s aware of what’s wrong with him,” she said in the video.

Vladdy was not expected to survive. He was in a coma for two months and fed through a tube. “He wouldn’t be able to breathe by himself,” Irina said. “They told us that there is not much hope that he would be normal again.”

Doctors told the family “that part of the brain is gone,” she said. “And there is nothing in the science, that they have advanced enough, that can either rebuild or replace that part, and it’s permanent.”

GABRIEL B. TAIT, DETROIT FREE PRESS

The video includes several emotional scenes.

In one, Vladdy is strapped in a chair, holding a ball.

“Come on, throw the ball,” Irina said.

Vladdy dropped the ball toward her.

“OK,” Irina said. “Good.”

Bellanca was in the room, watching the scene, and he recorded his thoughts in a note dated July 8, 1997. “Eight weeks ago, he lifted the Stanley Cup above his head,” Bellanca wrote. “Today, he struggled to lift his chin above his shoulders. Yet there is hope. I saw it as he struggled to answer the command to throw the little rubber ball. There was determination, but the glint was gone from his eye. Eight weeks ago, we watched for the next crunching check. Today, strapped to a wheelchair sitting in the evening sun, we cheered when he tried to place a baseball cap on his own head.”

At that time, Vladdy was still being fed through a tube. “He had some ice cream, just a tablespoon or two,” Bellanca wrote. “Maybe, in a week or month, he will be able to eat baby food. Maybe, in a month or maybe a year, he will walk or stand.”

Eventually, the video documents progress. Three years after the accident, Vladdy broke into a giant smile while putting together a puzzle, the kind a child might stick together on the kitchen table.

“I came to the realization that he is never going to be able to gain all of his abilities back from the very beginning,” Irina said.

There is another video clip of Vladdy holding a hockey stick while sitting on the driveway with his daughter, Anastasia.

“She doesn’t know much about the nature of this injury,” Irina said. “She had to learn about it, asking questions. She would ask the nurses and doctors.”

Anastasia was 8 when the accident happened on June 13, 1997.

“What was lost is, the very feeling of the family,” Irina said. “Because my daughter lost a father, as the man can be in the father’s position. She found herself having another sibling, who is not even having as much of understanding of the world and surroundings as her, probably less. Somebody who would be (like) a 2- or 3-years-old child. And development of the brain would be somewhere on that level. She had to realize and accept it and cope with it. So, it makes me sad.”

Irina's eyes filled with tears as she spoke. “But I don’t think really angry," she said. "I don’t know who I should be angry at, or what. For myself, do I feel pity for myself? No. Because it’s not me who lost all of the feelings and not being able to walk. I’m still here. Healthy. It really makes me sad for him.”

When the video ends, Bellanca sits in his chair, smiling through tears.

I mention how heartbreaking it was to see Vladdy get excited putting together a child’s puzzle.

“He’s not much better than that,” Bellanca said.

Vladinator, indeed

But today, in honor of Saturday's special moment, let us take time to celebrate the Vladinator, the player he was on the ice.

“Everybody in the league hated to play against Vladdy,” said former Red Wings center Igor Larionov, who teamed with Konstantinov as part of the famed "Russian Five." “He was a really quiet guy. But he had a lot of internal strength inside of him. He was mild but vicious, hard on the ice. He was the guy who cared more about the team than himself.”

Vladdy was just 29 years old when the accident happened. He was in the prime of his career and finished second in Norris Trophy voting for the NHL's top defenseman. He was poised to be great.

“Vladdy didn’t care who we faced, if we faced the top guy like a Wayne Gretzky or a grinder, he played the same against everyone,” Nicklas Lidstrom, ex-Red Wing and Hockey Hall of Famer, said. “He tried to play physical and very aggressive and finish checks. He was very tough to play against. Vladdy had a lot of skill, maybe more skill than he showed sometimes. He wasn’t the biggest guy out there, but he played like the biggest guy.”

Many believe the Wings would have extended their success, had it not been for the accident. “The team would have won two or three more Cups in a row, because he was a very important part of that team," Larionov said. "Missing a guy like that was a huge loss, the way he played, the way he made the defense. We could score some goals."

Julian H. Gonzalez, Special to t

The Wings won the Cup again the next season and Vladdy was on the ice, celebrating with his friends. In one of the most iconic scenes in Wings history, captain Steve Yzerman placed the Cup in Konstantinov's lap after the Wings swept the Capitals in four games.

“His locker was still there,” Lidstrom said. “His gear was hanging next to my locker. You got a reminder every day that Vladdy was still a part of the team, even though he wasn’t playing. I think that gave us motivation to have a strong season. You were always reminded of what happened.”

Vladdy is still seen around Detroit, going to Red Wings games. He attended a showing of "The Russian Five" at the Detroit Free Press Film Festival in 2018, sitting a few seats from Keith Gave, a former Free Press reporter, who wrote a book about the Russian quintet and was a writer/producer of the movie.

"He was locked into that film, as he was watching it," Gave said. "The problem is, he can’t remember five minutes ago. He’s got no short-term memory. But I truly believe he remembers who he is, what he was. His place in that dressing room with those players. I firmly believe that.

“What happened to him would have killed most of us. It speaks to how strong that man was, in his heart and in his head.”

'Still getting 24-hour care'

In many ways, Konstantinov is lucky this accident happened in Michigan. He has received tremendous care because of Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance law.

“He has gotten superb care," Bellanca said. "It’s improved his life.”

While Irina and Anastasia now live in Florida, Vladdy stayed in Michigan because the state's system is so fantastic.

“One of the reasons that Irina is not here and Vladdy is, is when she intended to move him, because she thought it would be better for him, she found out that none of the other states would provide him with the level of care that we have available to use here in Michigan," Bellanca said. "That was the deciding factor. She had already sold the house and moved. She found out she couldn’t replicate what we have in Michigan because they don’t have the infrastructure to do it.”

Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

Recently, there have been changes to Michigan's no-fault insurance system.

He is still getting 24-hour care, but there is some concern the changes will affect Vladdy in the future.

"We don’t know whether there will be an adverse effect on him and we are concerned," Bellanca said.

"It would be devastating to Vladdy."

Anastasia has started a GoFundMe account called “The Vladimir Konstantinov Special Needs Trust" to raise money for items not covered by insurance.

Scott Zubrickas, who owns a T-shirt company in Grand Rapids, noticed the GoFundMe campaign and decided to help. He is selling "Vladinator" T-shirts through his company, The Mitten State. The shirts will be sold at Little Caesars Arena and through his website ($24.99 presale) and $5 from every sale will go to Vladdy’s trust.

“Vladdy was always that guy you watched when he was on the ice to see who he was going to nail,” Zubrickas said. “I was really excited the family green-lit us on this one. We're hoping to help them out.”

That is how we will remember Vladdy. As the Vladinator. Tough. Physical. Looking for somebody to nail.

So, on this weekend, we celebrate the way Konstantinov played the game and the strength he has shown since the accident.

And we do it with a smile, dipping into those memories, full of admiration, while wiping away tears.