A Night To Remember As The Wings Retire Number 91

Tonight will be a night that goes down in Detroit Red Wings history as the club is preparing to retire its ninth jersey, with Sergei Federov’s #91 being elevated to the ceiling of Little Caesars Arena.

Federov will be joining #1 Terry Sawchuk, #4 Red Kelly, #5 Nicklas Lidstrom, #7 Ted Lindsay, #9 Gordie Howe, #10 Alex Delvecchio, #12 Sid Abel and #19 Steve Yzerman.

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The Detroit Red Wings recently posted an official statement ahead of the ceremony from Federov himself:

I would like to say thank you to the fans, to my former teammates, to the ownership that’s been so great to the players since I arrived to the Detroit Red Wings that first summer in 1990. I’ll never forget how great Mr. Ilić and his family were to believe in us, and how important that belief was to us through the unbelievable tasks we achieved.

He also touched on the journey of finally being able to capture the Stanley Cup in 1997, and how it was through the support of the fans that made it all possible:

For me personally, it meant a lot because it’s always more exciting to play in front of 20,000 fans every night at Joe Lewis Arena. I think for me, coming from the former Soviet Union, it was a privilege, and that privilege gave me the excitement that you drove me through the process.

You can read his full statement to HockeyTown here.

Even fans of the team we swept to win our first cup in over 40 years commented their support of Federov in the comments of his post:

Flyers fan here, still a little salty about 1997, but have always loved Federov. He is one of the players that got me into hockey, and to this day Russian players are always among my favorites. Wishing him a super huge congratulations on his jersey retirement, well earned!