Rink Stories: "Wow," on the importance of No. 91 in the rafters, JVR's connection to his son and Rick Bowness back on the bench
Let's share some fun stories before the Red Wings and Hurricanes play.
Of all the things Sergei Fedorov said on Monday, the most impactful, to me, wasn’t at a podium or in front of a microphone.
As his No. 91 rose to the rafters, with his family surrounding him, the video board captured a moment where Fedorov was looking skyward and simply said, “wow.”
It’s a short little word, but a powerful one. Think about your life, the moments you treasure, the things that are too difficult to describe. When you struggle to find any proper reaction in the moment.
That’s when “wow” happens, that’s when the indescribable becomes describable.
That’s what Monday night felt like in Detroit. After a long public rift between one of the greatest players in history and his first NHL franchise, which helped him defect from the Soviet Union, old wounds were able to formally heal, No. 91 was able to rise and, fittingly, with his banner hanging the Detroit fans were then able to watch a game featuring the first and second-place teams in the Eastern Conference for the first time in more than a decade.
Wow, indeed.
I didn’t know what I was going to write about Fedorov’s retirement ceremony, because truthfully I’m not the right person to reflect on his career. Unlike other jersey retirements I’ve covered before, I have zero relationship with the player. I watched him play as a kid, but I wasn’t a Red Wings fan, he was the enemy for a kid who grew up in New Jersey rooting for the Devils.
There are others who have the better story, Nick Cotsonika from NHL.com has this wonderful piece, which I excepted slightly here.
Now the prodigal son will return, and there should be nothing but love. Even though he left after 13 seasons, Fedorov still ranks fourth in goals (400), seventh in assists (554) and sixth in points (954) in Red Wings history. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he ranks fifth in goals (50), third in assists (113) and third in points (163).
In a way, Mike Ilitch got his wish. The Red Wings got Fedorov back, and now No. 91 will stay in the rafters forever.
“Detroit is home,” Fedorov said. “Always been, no matter where I was. I swear to God. Whenever I landed every time in Detroit, I feel at ease. I breathed differently, and I enjoyed that feeling every time I landed.”
He paused and repeated himself for emphasis.
“Detroit is home,” he said.
Please read all of Nick’s story, it’s really good, Nick also covered the Red Wings closely during that dynastic era.
For me, there was legit emotion watching Fedorov embrace Vladimir Konstantinov during his speech. I also thought Fedorov hit all the right notes, he arrived in a Corvette, how cool is that?
(Please ignore my Twitter typo….)
He praised his former teammates, he talked about Detroit eventually winning another Stanley Cup.
I also couldn’t help but smile watching the ceremony because of someone whose name was never mentioned watching behind the bench.
I’ve mentioned Don before, he’s one of the security guards at Little Caesars Arena and he works outside the visiting locker room. We often talk about food and life and he shares stories of him time working Red Wings games.
So on Monday I asked Don about his favorite Fedorov memory.
He delivered.
On Dec. 26 1996, Don worked his first ever game at Joe Louis Arena. That night Fedorov scored all five goals, including the overtime winner, in a 5-4 victory against the Washington Capitals.
As Don told me Monday morning, he’s not sure if anything could ever top his first day on the job.
So to see don watching the ceremony from behind the visiting bench, that was one of those “wow” moments for me. There are so many people that create the fabric of the game environment we leave, so many that you will never hear of, and there’s something special, and deserved, about seeing them experience the Red Wings properly embrace part of their history.
OK, onto the game, but here are a couple other quick stories I wanted to share first…
James van Riemsdyk famously arrived at the Red Wings game on Saturday in Montreal wearing a Batman suit.
For van Riemsdyk it was an important gesture in what’s been a difficult time for him as a parent.
van Riemsdyk’s family have been living back in Minnesota this season, meaning the 36-year-old forward has been forced to connect with his kids primarily through a screen via FaceTime.
And that’s one of the things that led to the Batman suit.
As van Riemsdyk told me on Monday morning, the impetus for the costume came after a call with his son where he the 4-year-old was struggling with fact dad wouldn’t be at his birthday.
“He was actually pretty stoic about things, doing pretty well, but than my daughter, who’s birthday is in the spring, said something about how dad was going to be at her birthday but not his,” van Riemsdyk said. “So he was really starting to struggle with that then, that’s when I needed to find a way to be there even if I wasn’t actually there.”
van Riemsdyk said his son had a super hero themed party and originally was going to be dressed up as the Incredible Hulk, but the 4-year-old made an alteration and put on the Batman mask with the rest of his Incredible Hulk costume at the party itself.
van Riemsdyk also shared this post on social media of him and his son wearing the same Batman suit fully.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Columbus Blue Jackets fired Dean Evason on Monday and fired Rick Bowness as his replacement.
I know Bowness very well, I covered him as both an assistant coach and head coach in Dallas, where he notably took over for Jim Montgomery suddenly in the middle of the 2019-20 season and led the team to Stanley Cup Finals in the COVID bubble.
Bowness is one of the better humans I’ve dealt with, we have had our disagreements on the hockey front, but I always respected how he put people first.
I think the best way to show that is digging up this clip from the 2020 bubble, when he was so gracious with his time and understanding of the Zoom realities of me parenting and working at the same time.
It’s interesting to me that Bowness doesn’t have an “interim” tag on his title. He’s 70 and he’ll celebrate his 71st birthday later this month, he also told me after the 2023-24 season with the Winnipeg Jets that, “it was time,” to be done and spend time in Florida with his wife.
The Blue Jackets are also bad, bottom of the Eastern Conference bad, so this isn’t an easy job.
I’m not sure what success can even look like for Bowness in Columbus, but I can say he’s probably one of the best coaches, in my view, of dealing with the crisis and chaos of a season.
When the Stars fired Montgomery during the 2019-20 season for an act of unprofessional conduct, Bowness stepped in as the calming voice that team needed. That Stars team saw him almost as a father figure, someone that they wanted to fight for and someone that put people before hockey players.
So, again, not sure what’s realistic for Columbus, but I’m interested to watch what happens at least.
I remember the Bones video clip at the time, Sean. It's going to be great to see him behind the bench again. Wow!