Back on Ice, Fedorov Not Just Winging It

If the Olympic tournament is all the hockey Sergei Fedorov plays this season--and the Russian center doesn’t foresee a resolution to his contract impasse with the Detroit Red Wings--he intends to remind the NHL how much it’s missing.

Fedorov, a two-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward and winner of the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in 1993-94, was dazzling in Russia’s first two games. Whether at the point on the power play or taking regular shifts, he has added intelligence and creativity to Russia’s offense and reinforced its defensive play while blending well with teammates who feared he might be a prima donna and taint the team’s chemistry.

Choosing Fedorov to replace the injured Alexei Kovalev, “for sure was good and bad news,” goaltender Andrei Trefilov said. “We got a bad experience last year in the World Cup and the team was like 22 guys [saying], ‘I am Sergei, I am Pavel, and I am nobody.’

“I was looking for what kind of person [he] is going to be right now, and it looks like he’s a leader of the team. He and Pavel [Bure] are working very hard. I can say right now he’s a big guy on our team. He’s in great shape, and we expect from him a great game and lots of goals.”

Russia got a goal and three assists from Fedorov in winning its first two games. In a 4-3 victory over Finland on Sunday, which made Monday’s game against the Czech Republic a mini-showdown for the Group C lead and an easy quarterfinal matchup--Fedorov set up power-play goals by Bure and Alexei Yashin to spark a rally.

“He’s a great skater anyways, and he tried real hard to prepare very well,” said Yashin, the Ottawa Senator center. “For him, it’s like his first game of the year, and he’s very excited and wants to be in the game. He helps us a lot.”

It helps Fedorov that even though he hasn’t played since June 7, 1997, when he hoisted the Stanley Cup in Detroit, he and his new teammates have a strong common foundation that was given them as children in the old Soviet Union.

“It’s more organized. You don’t have to think too much. You’ve been through it before,” he said of their hockey schooling. “You don’t have to be a genius to come back and play this kind of style. We grew up with the Russian system.

“Every player on the Russian team grew up with these tactics and this style of play and then went to the NHL. We’ve learned so many things in North America to be successful there. Now we have that experience that you can use as a group of Russian players.”

In the days of the great Soviet teams, which won medals in every Olympics they entered from 1956 through 1988--and in 1992 as the Unified Team--the European style differed distinctly from the style of hockey played in North America.

In Europe, passing skills were emphasized over shooting skills, and players would pass the puck endlessly seeking one perfect shot. European players were usually better two-way players than their counterparts from Canada and the United States because defense was constantly emphasized. Many NHL players have built careers as specialists, either as scorers or defensive players. And Europeans rarely played a physical game, drawing scorn from Canadian and American fans who see contact as one of the game’s attractions.

Those distinctions, however, have blurred, even in Fedorov’s eight years in North America. European players have adopted the grind-it-out mentality of North Americans, and North Americans have come to appreciate the value of cycling the puck in the offensive zone in an effort to throw off the defense and create openings for better shots.

Almost every game in the Olympic tournament has had some skirmishes around the net and pushing-and-shoving matches, which used to be unheard of in international play.

Fedorov acknowledges that he misses playing in the NHL and began working out with a Junior A team in the Detroit area for the company and the conditioning benefits.

“I didn’t play for five months. I set up a base of conditioning the last three weeks [before the Games],” he said. “I worked very hard with conditioning and skating and the technical aspects. I work with my father a lot. I believe I set up a good base and I’m confident.”

He has repeatedly and politely declined to discuss his future, including his rejection of a free-agent offer sheet from the New York Islanders and his request that the Red Wings trade him.

“I don’t know how it’s going to be done, but at some point I’d like to return and play for the NHL. I’d like to leave it at that,” he said.

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Men’s Hockey

Back In action

Sergei Fedorov, who had missed the NHL season in a contract holdout with the Detroit Red Wings, is playing for Russia in the Olympics. A look at what Fedorov has accomplished in the NHL:

NHL most valuable player: 1996

NHL’s best defensive forward: 1994, 1996

Led NHL in points in playoffs: 1993-94

Led NHL in assists in playoffs: 1992-93, 1993-94

Second in scoring: 1993-94 regular season (120 points)

10th in scoring: 1995-96 regular season (107 points)