Sergei Fedorov didn’t head back to Russia in his early 40s to coast through the end of his career, and the people around him at Magnitogorsk Metallurg saw that immediately.
Former Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, returned to Russia to finish his playing days in the KHL. What stood out wasn’t just that he was still playing at 42. It was the way he carried himself every day, even while dealing with excruciating back pain.
Georgiy Gelasvili, then a young goalie with Magnitogorsk Metallurg, told Russian website Sport-Express that sharing a team with Fedorov left him stunned. He described Fedorov as a hockey god.
“In the gym, he amazed everyone by calmly squatting while holding a 110-kilogram barbell with one hand!” Gelashvili remembered. “At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Fedorov was doing that at 42, while dealing with back problems, and Gelashvili said the veteran was intent on setting the right example for teammates who were often half his age.
“Forty-two years old, with back problems . . . and this,” Gelashvili said of Fedorov’s astonishing commitment to fitness.
That same discipline showed up in everything he did. The commitment that once made him the only Red Wings player to win the Hart Trophy since 1963 - and the only player in NHL history to win the Hart and Selke Trophies in the same season - was still there in Russia.
Fedorov also kept a strict diet. He cut out flour products, sweets and coffee.
Gelashvili said Fedorov preferred brown pasta over regular pasta because it takes longer to digest, and that he mostly ate steak. As for drinks, Gelashvili said, “Alcohol-wise, he drank a little red wine.”
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