Time CAPSule - Fedorov's Mentoring Pushes Caps Forward

Earlier this season, we posted a lengthy piece on Alex Ovechkin's early years in DC and another shorter piece on Nicklas Backstrom's five-year contract extension. In the process of crafting those stories and talking to the subjects themselves and many others, we were reminded of how exciting and thrilling the 2007-08 NHL season was in these parts.

It stands as Ovechkin's career year, it was Backstrom's rookie year, Bruce Boudreau took over behind the Washington bench on Thanksgiving Day, and the Caps made the playoffs for the first time in five years, winning 15 of 19, 11 of 12 and seven straight at season's end to come back from a dismal 6-14-1 start to win the Southeast Division title.

That season and that run into the playoffs augured in the "Rock The Red" era of hockey in DC, the beginning of 11 playoff appearances in a span of a dozen seasons. At this time a dozen years ago, the Caps were in the midst of that wild run. With the NHL's 2019-20 season "paused" for the foreseeable future, we're going to spend the next month looking back at the day-to-day of that remarkable late-season run, revisiting some of our coverage at the time with some fresh hindsight mixed in. On the off days between games, we will revisit some events from earlier in that landmark season. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A dozen years ago at this point, the Caps were two days away from opening the playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers. One of the main reasons they were able to put together such a strong late season surge in 2007-08 was the late season addition of Sergei Fedorov via a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Fedorov was 38 at the time and in the twilight of a Hall of Fame career. He wasn't the player who scored 56 goals - including a league-leading 39 at even strength - and 120 points in 1993-94, but the Caps didn't need him to be that player. They needed him to fill in for the injured Michael Nylander, who was out for the remainder of the season with a torn rotator cuff.

Fedorov did that and more, serving as a guiding light for the Caps' group of young and gifted - but still impressionable and somewhat naïve - players, many of whom grew up watching him and marveling at his exploits and his remarkable skating ability. Suddenly, he was in their locker room; this three-time Stanley Cup champion was one of them, and he still had the swagger and the spirit with which to command their attention.

About two weeks after the trade deadline, the Caps endured a rough weekend that might have derailed their fading hopes of overtaking Carolina for the Southeast Division title or sneaking into the playoffs as a lower seed. Playing in Boston on March 8 - a Saturday afternoon - the Caps took an early 1-0 lead on a Brooks Laich power-play goal, and they nursed that narrow advantage into the back half of the third period. This was just five days after the Caps put a harsh 10-2 pasting on the Bruins in Washington, so the B's were definitely motivated for some payback. They got it when the Caps took three minor penalties in less than four minutes time, with less than six minutes remaining in the game. Boston scored two power-play goals to edge the Caps, 2-1.

The next afternoon, the Caps were back in Washington to host the Penguins in a nationally televised matinee match. Once again, Laich staked the Caps to an early lead with a power-play goal, but the Pens scored twice at even strength to take a 2-1 lead before Alexander Semin tied it at 2-2 on another Washington power play in the waning seconds of the first.

As the game moved into the final minutes of the third, it was still 2-2 and it appeared as though the Caps would at least pull a point from the game, keeping a remarkable streak going; they hadn't gone two straight games without collecting a point since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench on Nov. 22.

With less than 30 seconds left and the puck in Washington's end, rookie center Nicklas Backstrom inadvertently backhanded the puck into his own net, giving the Pens a 3-2 lead at 19:32 of the third. Pittsburgh added an empty-netter in what was a devastating loss for the Caps.

"That was officially heartbreaking," Boudreau said after the game. "I feel bad for Nick. He was doing everything that he could, and ends up shooting it in his own net."

Heartbreaking was the right word, and Backstrom was crushed, as you'd expect a 20-year-old rookie to be in that situation. A few months ago, we asked Backstrom about that game and before we could finish the question, he responded thusly.

"Fedorov was the one guy who called me after that game. I was showered and out of there pretty quick after that. It was obviously an accident, but I felt awful. He left me a voice mail, and he said, "In team sports, it's like this: you win together, and you lose together. It doesn't matter how it happened." I thought that was pretty cool, coming from him, and I thought we bounced back as a team pretty good. [Ed: Indeed. They won 11 of 12 to finish the season after that.] He made me feel really good, and that was really special from him right there."

Fedorov made a big difference both on and off the ice during his brief time in Washington. Here's a look back at a feature we penned after Fedorov signed a one-year contract extension for 2008-09, when he concluded his NHL career with the Capitals.

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No matter how good the 2008-09 Washington Capitals turn out to be, they won't be the best team Sergei Fedorov has ever played for. The 38-year-old veteran center re-signed with Washington last week, signing a one-year deal for the upcoming campaign. Fedorov has played on three Stanley Cup championship teams in his career - all with Detroit - but none of those heralded clubs ranks as the best he has ever played with.

When he was a mere lad of 16, Fedorov played regularly on the fabled and dominant Red Army team that finished the season with a 36-2-2 record. Looking at the roster of that team is like looking at a Who's Who's of Russian Hockey for the 1980s and 1990s.

A reporter idly wondered how that 1986-87 Red Army squad would have fared in the NHL, back in the days before Russian players dotted NHL rosters. Were any of the Wings' Cup champion teams as good as that Red Army team?

"No, never, never, never as good as the Red Army team," declares Fedorov. "No way. Not even close. Not even [bleeping] close."

How would the Red Army club hold up playing in the NHL in those days?

"It would be a walk in the park," Fedorov states. "Three and a half lines were on the national team out of that team, plus two goalies. Figure it out. They won everything. They won absolutely everything. Not just championships, but almost every game they played they won. Think about it. A season in Russia, it used to be if you were with the national team, the season would be like 100 games, too. They won almost every one of them. They lost five or 10 at the most, every year for five or 10 years in a row.

"Usually on the Red Army team in those days, if you were a center you were responsible for defense and offense. As much as defense. You cannot let the guard down, so you've been taught to lead both ends. You're like an operator to connect those two."

Last Feb. 26, the Capitals made three separate trades at the NHL's trade deadline. The second of those swaps brought Fedorov from Columbus to the District. At that moment, Fedorov became the oldest player the Capitals have ever obtained in a trade. Monday's announcement that Fedorov has agreed to terms for another season with the Caps ensures that he'll become the third oldest player ever to pull on a Washington sweater when he takes the ice this fall. Only Doug Mohns (41 years old in 1974-75) and Adam Oates (39 in 2001-02) have ever skated for the Caps later in their lives.

Heading into his 19th NHL season, Fedorov is a few seasons past his prime to be sure. But if he's lost a step in his once-spry skating stride, it's a step that many players never had to begin with.

For the better part of the last two decades, Fedorov has epitomized style, grace and class on the ice. One of the smoothest and best skaters to ever play in the NHL, Fedorov is also one of the best defensive forwards to ever play the game.

On the ice and off the ice, Fedorov is an experienced hand who has endured many obstacles and celebrated many triumphs over the course of his years in the game. Adding him to a young and impressionable Washington locker room a few months ago helped fuel the team's late push toward a Southeast Division championship.

"There's a lot more than meets the eye," said Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau of Fedorov last March. "He's been a tremendous influence on our team, and not just the Russian guys. He's been a calming influence and yet at the same time he gets more excited or as excited as anybody on the bench when we succeed. You get a Hart Trophy winner and a three-time Stanley Cup champion doing that and it's pretty impressive. He talks to individuals and he's helping guys on face-offs. He's like another coach out there."

When he arrived in Washington on Feb. 27, Fedorov joined a youthful Washington team that had just a few players who had celebrated their 30th birthdays. Three of those - including 31-year-old captain Chris Clark - were sidelined for the season at the time. Fedorov also joined a team with a pair of young Russian stars in 22-year-old Alex Ovechkin and 24-year-old Alexander Semin.

"It's very important for us, especially for us young guys," said Ovechkin shortly after the deal was announced. "We'll see how he practices, how he thinks about the game. And especially his experience. He has won everything."

"We know this guy can do everything: score goals, win the battles, win the face-offs, block shots. When young guys like me, Greener, [Nicklas Backstrom] and Semin see the kind of player he is, it gives us good emotion and experience."

His days in Columbus sapped some of Fedorov's zest for the game of hockey. Better than a point-per-game player for his career before he donned a Blue Jackets sweater, Fedorov has not totaled as many as 50 points in a season since before the lockout. When he arrived in Washington, he was not sure what the future held for him beyond the 2007-08 season.

"I'll be honest with you guys right now," he said at his introductory press conference on Feb. 27. "I'm going to consider all my options after the season, in the summertime."

Including retirement?

"Including retirement, yes."

Fedorov also hinted that he would consider closing out his career in Russia, playing in the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League. At the time, the Caps were far more concerned with making the playoffs than they were with Fedorov's future plans.

"With losing [Michael] Nylander [to a rotator cuff injury] I was trying to find another center without giving the future away," said Caps general manager George McPhee in explaining the Fedorov trade. "The price seemed right on that.

"You've got a veteran guy who has had success in this league, is good on face-offs, he's good defensively and he can still make a play. He doesn't have to be the go-to guy like he has been in the past. He has to fit in and help us."

He did all that and more, which is why he will be back for 2008-09 even though Nylander is now healthy.

In Fedorov's 18 regular season games as a Capital, he totaled two goals and 13 points. Projected out to a full 82-game season, that's a pace of 59 points. He added a goal and five points in seven playoff contests, his first Stanley Cup playoff activity in five years. With Fedorov in the lineup, Washington was 14-4 in those 18 regular season games.

The Continental Hockey League will have to wait another year. The Hockey Hall of Fame will have to wait another year. Sergei Fedorov is the last player still playing in the NHL who had to defect from his native country in order to play in the league. Fedorov will spend his 18th NHL season in Washington with the Capitals. Almost half of his lifetime ago, Fedorov's NHL journey was just beginning.

During Washington's recent playoff run, a reporter noted Fedorov's polished English.

"I didn't have really much choice, because I burned every bridge I had," the Russian center responded matter-of-factly. "Because I defected. It's not like I got the visa and came here. I had to leave and I had to leave for only hockey reasons. I'm glad I did it, but it was a difficult time.

"Maybe I was never going to see my parents, never going to see my friends back in Russia, never going to see Russia period. But [Mikhail Gorbachev] came in power, there were some changes and he gave me a chance to come back. Four years is a long time when you play hockey somewhere abroad by yourself on your own.

"I was 20. I didn't have a choice. I had to learn English. I had to learn culture. I had to learn how things were on the ice, off the ice. I had help, no doubt. People who were affiliated with me or worked for me or helped me out, they were great people. There, I consider myself very lucky. It was amazing."

When a 20-year-old decides to leave his native country surreptitiously, it is no small undertaking; no light decision. Fedorov's resolve to keep his decision to himself is what kept him from changing his mind. He did not seek the counsel of his parents.

"They were pretty much in shock because they didn't know what I was going to do back then," says Fedorov of his parents. "I could not talk to them about it, because there would be too many opinions mixing together and then I would have second thoughts. I was 20 years old; I didn't want to have a second thought. I just wanted to do what I think was right at the particular moment, and that's it."

That decision turned out as well as most of the thousands of on-ice decisions he has made over the last two decades. In Seattle to compete in the Goodwill Games 18 summers ago, Fedorov slipped out of his hotel and went to the airport. He boarded a plane bound for Detroit.

A total of 202 players born in the former U.S.S.R. have played in the NHL. When Fedorov arrived in Detroit in the summer of 1990, only a handful had played in the league.

Fedorov scored a goal in his first NHL game, against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 4, 1990. He finished second on the team in scoring as a rookie and was named to the league's all-rookie team. As the only Russian on Detroit's team that season, Fedorov immersed himself in the language and the culture, and he relied on several veteran Wings to help show him the ropes.

"Back then I remember names like Lee Norwood, Rick Zombo," recalls Fedorov. "Obviously Steve Yzerman, all those guys. Bob Probert. Joey Kocur. Shawn Burr; he was my roommate for five years. All those guys tremendously helped me out, especially to adjust to the United States and to adjust to the 20,000 screaming fans and the new idea of playing seven months straight."

In his fourth season in the league (1993-94), Fedorov totaled 56 goals and 120 points. He became the first Russian to win the Hart Trophy, the Pearson Award and the Selke Trophy. He won a second Selke Trophy two years later.

Beginning in 1994-95, Fedorov started a run in which he totaled 20 or more points in four straight playoff seasons. (Islander greats Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier are the only other players in NHL history to achieve this feat.) Detroit won the Stanley Cup in twice during that span (1997 and 1998). Fedorov put up 19 points when the Wings claimed their third Cup in six seasons in 2002.

During the 1990s, Fedorov was one of the league's top talents. He combined a powerful skating stride and excellent speed with dazzling stickhandling and an ability to make plays at top speed. If that wasn't enough, he was a lethal shooter using the slapshot, wrister or backhander. Throw in the fact that he could play the wing and even seamlessly move back to the blueline and play defense, and Fedorov stands alone as the most complete and versatile player of his generation.

As the years went by, Fedorov added leadership to his résumé. That, as much as anything he did on the ice, is what cinched his contract extension with the Caps.

"It's the one thing I hadn't thought that much about when I traded for Sergei," recalls McPhee. "I saw the ability on the ice and didn't think much about the leadership factor although I should have. But he was incredible. I couldn't have been more impressed with him then. And the way that our players talked about him in our season-ending meetings made it clear that this was a guy we have to have back."

That leadership started to show the day he arrived in Washington. One of the other trades the Caps made on Feb. 26 brought goaltender Cristobal Huet to the District. Adding Huet to a team that already had two veteran netminders in Olie Kolzig and Cristobal Huet made for an untenable goaltending situation. The local media was out in full force within hours after the trade, trying to stir up some controversy.

Fedorov politely put a pin through that trial balloon.

"Olympic teams have three goalies, too," he observed when asked - before he had suited up for as much as a single practice with his new team - what he thought of the Caps' unusual three-goaltender arrangement. "World championship teams have three goalies. I'm sure they manage that as well as anything else. It's not a problem, I don't think."

That same day, Fedorov was asked how he would translate the success of playing for three Stanley Cup champions to the Capitals fuzzy-cheeked squad.

"I think in a team sport like hockey there are no small details," Fedorov noted. "My basic daily routine would include all those small details and hopefully they will help me out on the ice, during the ice time that I am going to spend during the game. That's how I understand big championships are won. You have to pay attention to details and everything else falls into place.

"I hope I make myself available enough that the younger players would not be hesitant to ask me anything they want to know. I'll show them anything they want to know and I would treat them the same way if I need to know from them. We're doing the same thing and we're in it together. It's a two-way street and that's the way I'm going to approach it."

Just 24 hours earlier, he belonged to another team in another city. Now, he was in Washington, thrust into a leadership role on a young team. Fedorov spent the first 13 years of his career in Detroit where he still makes his home. The first time he was traded, Fedorov was a month shy of his 35th birthday. The trade to Washington was his second. Although he was not surprised the Blue Jackets dealt him, he was surprised to be going to the Capitals.

"It's been a tough experience, the last 48 hours," he said. "I've tried to move on. It's an unfortunate part of the business. It's not easy to move your life to another city and you have new important people who will surround you, new teammates and everything. But it's the nature of the game. I've had plenty of experiences like that; I've moved around the world a lot. It will all come down on the ice. This game of hockey will unite us, and hopefully we'll go from there."

Within weeks, it was clear that playing with the Capitals and Ovechkin and Semin had rejuvenated Fedorov. He was enjoying the game more than he had in Columbus. He was needed; he was useful and just as importantly, he felt needed and useful. He was getting more ice time and making more of it. On the ice, there was a noticeable spring in his step. Off the ice, there was a perceptible twinkle in his eye.

Coming up through the Russian system as a teenager, Fedorov's linemates were Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny. He has outlasted both of them in the NHL. Fedorov is the bridge between his generation and a new breed of young Russians in the NHL: Ovechkin, Semin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Nikolai Zherdev.

"Just the excitement of how they love the game and how they celebrate after scoring goals," responds Fedorov, when asked how the new Russian generation differs from his own. "Obviously everything else is much different. We're a little bit different generation. We still came out of the Soviet Union system; they came out of Russia. They are much more celebrated people. We are a little bit more reserved people, I think."

When asked about the generation that preceded himself, Bure and Mogilny, the twinkle returns to Fedorov's eye.

"Ahh," he sighs slowly. "It was an unbelievable generation. That generation showed me how to play hockey. [Viktor] Tikhonov, [Sergei] Makarov, [Vladimir] Krutov, [Igor] Larionov, [Slava] Fetisov, [Alexei] Kasatonov, all those guys. They really were perfectionists at what they did. They could play with their eyes closed. I'm glad I was part of that because I think that's the best hockey there is.

"My favorite gift that I ever got for myself was eight hours of the 1972 [Summit] Series against Canada. That's the hockey I understand, that's the hockey I played for some time in the Soviet Union and with the Russian Five in Detroit.

"It's amazing. You have to be an all-around player and be able to do a lot of different things in order to compete in that direction because you always have the puck. You don't give it away; you don't dump it in. You just make perfect plays until you get to the goal line in order to score goals. It's something in the past, but it's something I cherish very much."

With the Russian Five in Detroit, Fedorov played right wing on a line with Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov. Fetisov and Vladimir Konstantinov manned the blueline.

During his days with the Wings, Detroit coach Scotty Bowman approached Fedorov with a novel idea.

"One of our defensemen got injured," recalls Fedorov. "Scotty just called me in his office and asked me, 'Well Sergei, what do you think? You've played a couple games there and here. Would you go on defense?'

"He sold me with the ice time. I said, 'Yeah, I'm going.' Because I didn't play that much up front. Then I was playing 23, 25 minutes a game in back and I was in heaven. It was that easy. And plus I had a good partner, too. It was Larry Murphy and a couple of other guys. It was incredible.

Longtime Red Wings executive Jim Devellano insisted that had Fedorov remained on defense, he would have won a Norris Trophy.

"Let's not go there," says Fedorov, flashing his trademark smile when reminded of Devellano's remark. "Let's keep it on Jimmy's account, what he said."

Fedorov is still an asset on both special teams, and he is still a diligent backchecker. Because of his attention to detail and his attention to defense, teammates are more likely to respond when he speaks up.

During the Caps' late-season run to the Southeast title, they needed to win virtually every game. After one of those victories, Fedorov was asked if he felt rejuvenated playing with the young Capitals, and what sort of things he did to help his less experienced teammates in such a big game.

"Mentally it's refreshing," he said. "I just like to think that we push each other to the edge. The next day will present certain challenges and the next game will present certain challenges. We cannot stop here tonight. We realize what we've done; we got two points and that's all we say right now to each other. The next game will be as big for us as this game tonight.

"In certain situations on the ice in each period we got a little bit away from some things we like to do. I was just automatically saying a couple of things here and there. Nothing major; just a couple of things like, 'Third guy back," or 'Play defensively well.'

"It was quite an exciting time on the bench and obviously we put a lot of emotions into the game, but the game was not over. The last five minutes of the third were going by very, very slow. You have to keep everything in check until the end. On top of it, you have to leave something at the end even after the game in order to look ahead for the next game. You can't just spend it all and then go flat for a couple days.

"We did all right with that, I think. We're excited, but it's a calm excited. Everybody knows the job we have to do. To keep reminding each other about things we have to get done as a team and as a group is a good thing."

Some observers believe that Semin played some of his best all-around hockey for Washington during Fedorov's time with the team. So it was natural to wonder whether any of Fedorov's on-ice wisdom was rubbing off on the coltish young winger.

"I'm certainly not betting on it, or saying that's my purpose here," said Fedorov. "But I'm hoping that something rubs off. And certainly as linemates, we talk about quite a few things. But it's a work in process. It's not like, 'I have so much experience and you don't. You have to do it [my way].' No.

"I constantly ask him, 'Hey, where should I pass it to you?' or 'Where should I be in certain situations?' It's a work in process and I hope something will rub off, but not it's not just rubbing off on him, that experience rubs off on me, too.

"As linemates, you have to do that. I constantly encourage everybody about stuff like that. You have to speak up and let everybody know - your teammate or your linemate - how you feel in certain situations. That's what brings - at the edgiest and toughest moments - the best out of both of us, or three of us or four of us. You know what I'm saying? Everybody knows each other's moves. After that it's a no-brainer."

There were many nights in March and April of this year when Fedorov cavorted over the ice surface like a much younger man. He averaged 21:38 in ice time per game during the playoffs, second only to Ovechkin among the team's forwards. To those of us watching from high above, it seemed as though Fedorov had, on occasion, found a sort of fountain of youth.

"I like to say I feel that way," Fedorov said politely, just before the start of the playoffs. "But I'm not 25 or 26. I'm also feeling I'm 38. I'm as excited as anybody here after what we've accomplished, but we have new levels to work at. I'm as excited as anybody in this locker room or in the city or management. I haven't played playoff hockey in a while. You forget things after a while.

"I'm going to be nervous before games and obviously it's going to be a nerve-wracking experience. Hopefully we'll overcome our nerves and just play hard and play like we did in the last few games. It's exciting. Just an exciting, fun time."

Alas, the exciting, fun playoff run lasted but one series. But now Fedorov has signed on for another season in Washington, another kick at the Cup. There were offers to return to Russia and play in his native country for the first time in nearly two decades. He likely could have landed an NHL deal with another team. But Fedorov so enjoyed his stay in Washington that he wanted to extend it. And the Caps so enjoyed having him here in the District that they wanted him back.

"He's a good player, just about as smart as they come," said McPhee. "He was a terrific leader here last year. He was pretty firm on what he wanted and what his value was. He's been a great player in this league so we showed him respect and we made it work."

What can we expect from him in 2008-09? Fedorov is not the player he once was, but he's a better leader than he's ever been. Experience has helped replace what time has taken from him, but he's still Sergei Fedorov. He is still a commanding presence on the ice and in the room. He still has that certain panache that is usually reserved for rock stars. Expectations will high, but his own expectations are as well.

"They've always been high," he says. "Sometimes you over-expect and overdo certain things. You think you're still 20. I'm 38 but I have high expectations of myself. I try to do anything possible to fulfill them.

"I'm not going to talk about what they are and how they are, but I know one thing. You have to have high expectations of yourself in order to stay in the game. There's always a 22- or 23-year-old ready to knock you on your butt at any time of the game. So you better be ready for that."