By the time the early 1980’s, the Detroit Red Wings seemed like a reflection of their city after the car industry’s decline. A struggling team nicknamed the “Dead Wings” even by their fans, they hadn’t won a Stanley Cup since the Gordie Howe days in 1955. However, by the late ‘90s, thanks largely to five Russian players recruited from both in and out of the League, they were one of the best teams in the NHL. The new documentary, aptly named The Russian Five, directed by Joshua Riehl not only relays the story of how Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Igor Liaronov ended up in Detroit, but does so in a way that will delight both the team’s fans and newbies alike.
When the film starts, it feels like a spy thriller. With childlike glee, the team’s Executive Vice President, Jim Lites, and scout Nick Polano relay how they got then 21-year-old Sergei Fedorov to deflect after the 1990 Goodwill Games in Portland. Rendered in red, white and grey animated reenactments, they explain how they waited in a cab outside the Russian team’s hotel to spirit Fedorov away to Detroit as soon as the game ended. It’s a caper both ridiculous and wonderful in its improbability and riskiness and while it’s a funny anecdote in its own right, it sets both the pace and tone for the rest of the film.
Indeed, from the second Little Ceasar’s Pizza founder, Mike Ilitch and his wife Marian buy the team, Riehl makes it seem as if the team’s slow rise to a back-to-back championships is the result of some long con the team pulled on the NHL. That con’s mastermind is Jimmy Devellano, who became the team’s General Manager in 1982. Fresh off 3 consecutive Stanley Cup wins with the New York Islanders, he promises to get the team in Cup contention by 1990. However, it’s not until the 1989 draft that he starts enacting the practice that eventually got the team to the finals.
As Devellano explains, while other teams were afraid to draft Russian players because there was no guarantee they would eventually come to America, he took a gamble and picked Sergei Fedorov in the 4th round and Konstantinov in the 11th. But that’s just the first step and while we know each of the titular five will end up in Detroit, much of the film’s joy comes from hearing Devellano and others recount each detail of that recruitment. While trading Ray Sheppard–then one of the league’s top scorers–for a 36-year-old Liaronov is surprising but straightforward, a scene detailing how the team paid to have a Russian doctor claim that Konstantinov had to come to America to treat an inoperable sarcoma are so hilariously absurd that they seem almost impossible. It’s precisely that air of improbability that helps make the film feel so unpredictable despite the fact it covers history already over two decades old.
However, while the first half of the film trades on that heist movie feel to draw viewers in, it’s the way Riehl and editor David Fabelo manage to recreate the exhilaration and suspense of each season that‘s most remarkable. That’s perhaps best expressed in the way the film tracks the team’s performance in each post-season. Like Detroit fans at the time, they make the audience expect the worst, with a series of injuries that ruin the momentum at the worst times. In ‘93-‘94, it’s Fedorov’s concussion leading to him falling behind in the scoring race against Wayne Gretzky and the team’s loss to the 8th seed San Jose Sharks. In 1995, it’s Kozlov getting checked hard in Game 2 of the finals leading to a loss to the New Jersey Devils. By the time the 1996 playoffs come around, it almost feels inevitable when the Colorado Avalanche’s Claude Lemieux breaks Kris Draper’s jaw, nose and cheekbone in Game 6 of the finals and the wind goes out of the team’s sails.
Given that series of brutal disappointments, it makes the following scenes, when the team’s hard work finally pays off, all the more satisfying. However, where Riehl could easily end the film on a note of triumph in 1997, he instead keeps going, past that long-awaited win to the sobering limo crash that ended Konstantinov’s career and nearly took his life. On some level, Riehl’s hands are tied by the facts, but by delving into the sadness and shock the players feel in the following season, it makes their second win feel not just like a victory lap, but the culmination of all the growth and difficulty the team’s experienced since ’82.
Simply put, The Russian Five is the definitive documentary about the Detroit Red Wings from ‘82 to ‘98. It’s well-paced, fun and informative, but also thoughtful. For longtime fans, it’s a satisfying reminder of one of the team’s most storied periods. For the uninitiated, it’s an engrossing story seemingly tailor made for the movies. As former player Darren McCarty says of the ‘97 finals, “It’s Hollywood.”
