Helene St. James | Detroit Free Press

It's time to recognize one of the greatest players in Detroit Red Wings history.

Sergei Fedorov is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer. In the prime of his career, in the mid-'90s through the mid-aughts, he was considered one of hockey’s greatest players, a combination of uncontainable speed and skill.

So why isn’t Fedorov’s No. 91 hanging from the rafters of Little Caesars Arena next to the retired numbers of Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Terry Sawchuk, Alex Delvecchio and Sid Abel?

And is it time to change that?

Had Fedorov played out his NHL career with the Wings, there’s no doubt his number would have been retired by now. After all, the Wings sent Yzerman and Lidstrom’s numbers to the rafters within two years of their retirements.

But Fedorov’s case is different. He had an unceremonious and painful exit from the franchise, and it has taken the better part of a decade for the wounds to heal.

Julian H. Gonzalez, Special to the Free Press

Fedorov played his last game in the NHL in 2009, finished his career in Russia and retired in 2012. The coming season seems a perfect opportunity to recognize what an incredible player he was, and create a marquee event for fans to celebrate Fedorov.

He was an electrifying presence, an incredibly strong skater who dominated all over the ice and one of the most skilled Red Wings of all time. Off the ice, however, his Detroit career was tarnished by a contract holdout and his decision to take less money to play in Southern California for the Anaheim Ducks.

The bitterness between the organization and Fedorov — and fans and Fedorov — appeared to subside in 2015 when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. And as more time passes, it becomes more likely that his No. 91 will become the eighth number retired by the Red Wings.

“Sergei had a fabulous career in a Red Wings uniform,” general manager Ken Holland told the Free Press. “He had a tremendous impact on this franchise. I would assume as we continue to go forward there will be ongoing conversations about his impact on this franchise.”

Attempts to reach Red Wings owner Christopher Ilitch were unsuccessful.

Scotty Bowman, who coached Fedorov from 1993 to 2002, did not hesitate with his answer when asked whether Fedorov’s number should be retired by the Wings.

“Sure,” Bowman said. “He’s done it all. Sergei was a spectacular player. He was so good offensively and defensively. Sometimes it takes a little while. Detroit doesn’t retire as many, which makes it more valuable.”

A game-breaker

Fedorov's numbers speak for his incredible talent: 400 goals (the first one in his NHL debut, Oct. 4, 1990) and 554 assists in 908 regular-season games over 13 seasons with the Wings. He also had 50 goals and 113 assists in 162 playoff games with Detroit, and he finished his NHL career with 483 goals, 696 assists and 1,179 points in 1,248 games.

He ranks in the top 10 in nearly every major statistical category in franchise history.

Julian H. Gonzalez/DFP

Fedorov was special: He had tremendous physical strength and could handle the puck like a magician. His shot was so hard he could score from the blue line.

In 1993-94, Fedorov was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy (most valuable player of the regular season) and the Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward) — something no player since has replicated.

Fedorov dazzled in the mid-'90s as a member of the “Russian Five,” an iconic unit comprising Slava Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Igor Larionov and Slava Kozlov. He once scored a record five goals in a 5-4 victory over Washington on Dec. 26, 1996.

“That’s pretty well impossible,” Bowman said. “But Sergei could play at a level most players couldn’t.”

Injuries at one point forced Bowman to use Fedorov as a defenseman for a six-week stint, and he was so good that Bowman said Fedorov “could have been an All-Star defenseman” if he’d played there longer.

Fedorov did everything well: skate, pass, shoot, defend, check, take faceoffs. He had superior leg strength, and defenders who thought they had him fronted often found him accelerating by them.

He was part of the star-studded 2001-02 team that beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to win the Cup. Bowman used him on a line with Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, creating a unit that could play against anybody. Yzerman later recalled it as “one of the funnest times I had playing. Basically, at that time, I had knee issues, so I’d just get the puck to Sergei and let him carry it through the neutral zone, let him do all the work down low. Sergei was a game-breaker. It was really fun. I loved it.”

The Wings wanted Yzerman, Fedorov and Lidstrom to play together for many more years. It was not to be.

Julian H. Gonzalez/Detroit Free Press

Million-dollar snub

The Wings took a chance on Fedorov when it was a risk to draft Russians. He was picked in the fourth round, 74th overall, in 1989, and the Wings went to great lengths to help him defect, scurrying him away in 1990 when his CSKA Moscow team was in Portland, Oregon, for a match before the Goodwill Games.

Team owners Mike and Marian Ilitch wanted Fedorov to play his entire NHL career with the Wings, but the first big sign of trouble came after the Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997 (Fedorov contributed eight goals and 12 assists in 20 playoff games).

When the next season began, Fedorov did not show. Half the season passed, and still the contract impasse lasted. Finally in February, Fedorov signed a six-year, $38-million offer sheet with the Hurricanes. The contract called for a $14-million signing bonus, and a $12-million bonus if Fedorov’s team reached the 1998 conference finals — something the Wings were likely to accomplish while the Hurricanes were not.

The yearly salary was $2 million.

The Wings had seven days to match the offer. Mike Ilitch was in the hospital at the time, and his son, Atanas, was in charge. There was internal discussion about what to do, but when the question was posed as to what Mike Ilitch would do, the consensus was that he’d match the offer. So the Wings did.

Four months later, the Wings won their second consecutive Stanley Cup. Between February and June, team executives went to Comerica Bank to take out what became known internally as “the Sergei Fedorov loan,” as Fedorov was paid $26 million in bonuses.

Four years later, when the Wings won another Stanley Cup, Fedorov played for $2 million.

The Wings attempted to re-sign Fedorov the year before the 1998 contract expired. Mike Ilitch made one offer to Fedorov in person: $50 million over five years. Fedorov turned it down.

Instead, he caused lasting damage and signed for five years and $40 million to play for the Ducks. Fans booed Fedorov when he returned to Detroit in a Ducks uniform in December 2003, and then again when he returned after being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005. He finished his NHL career in Washington in 2009.

Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press

On the horizon

Henrik Zetterberg is a clear candidate to have his No. 40 retired some day: He’s a career Red Wing, a Stanley Cup champion, a team captain, and has logged more than 1,000 games. He enters the 2018-19 season fifth all-time in team scoring with 960 points.

But that event is not on the near horizon: Zetterberg has three years left on his contract, and even if he is not able to play out the remainder because of his back or other injury, he’ll be on long-term injured reserve until the contract expires.

Pavel Datsyuk is likely to see his No. 13 retired, too. While he put the Wings in a tough spot by returning to his native Russia with a year left on his contract, he is one of the most accomplished players in team history. Datsyuk helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2002, when he was part of a line with Brett Hull and Boyd Devereaux that Hull dubbed “two kids and a goat.” Another Cup followed in 2008, and by the time Datsyuk left in 2016, he ranked seventh in team history with 918 points.

Sandwiched between the two at sixth overall in is Fedorov, with 954 points.

Julian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free Press

His 2015 induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame served as a gateway to re-establishing goodwill in Detroit. The Wings invited Fedorov to drop a ceremonial puck before the Nov. 10, 2015, game against Washington. Fedorov received a standing ovation.

“I had best years of my life here,” Fedorov said that night.

It has been 20 years since the offer sheet, 15 years since the $50-million snub. In the annals of great players in Red Wings history, his name already is in the books. Doesn’t his number belong in the rafters?