Father: Wings 'disrespected' Fedorov

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Reuters


MOSCOW -- Russia's Sergei Fedorov should quit the Detroit Red Wings after they "disrespected" the All-Star center by asking him to play defense, his father told the Sport-Express newspaper.

"This summer, when Sergei becomes an unrestricted free agent, I urge him to change the club," said Viktor Fedorov. "Sergei has already proved everything to everyone in his past 11 seasons in Detroit."

Fedorov, who last month was named in Russia's Olympic team for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, is in the final year of a six-year, $38 million contract.

His father added: "I believe this (playing defense) is the latest display of disrespect to my son by his coach and general manager, who are responsible for the team's composition.

"I'm convinced that coaching experiments by (coach) Scotty Bowman were the only real cause of my son's drop in scoring in December, when the coach broke up an excellent line of Fedorov, (Kris) Draper and (Brendan) Shanahan.

"For many years, Bowman has been reducing Sergei's playing time in favor of lesser players, which prevents Sergei from showing all his talent.

"Therefore, when there was talk about trading Sergei to Philadelphia for (Eric) Lindros last summer, I was all in favor of it."

Sergei Fedorov was voted the NHL's Most Valuable Player in 1994 and helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1997 and 1998.

He joined them in the summer of 1990 when he decided to remain in the United States instead of returning to the Soviet Union following the Goodwill Games in Seattle.

In his 11 previous NHL seasons, the 32-year-old has scored 333 goals and 470 assists for a total of 803 points. He has 14 goals and 22 assists so far this season.

Viktor Fedorov, a hockey coach, trained his son as a junior.


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