Alexander Ovechkin

Fedorov arrived in Washington at the trade deadline in 2008 just as the team's young stars were ready to make the leap.

Added Bradley: “It was just a rim around the boards to me and I just made a whole lucky chip into the middle. “He’s just a tremendous person,” the Caps captain added. “I mean, he dressed immaculately,” he said. “If you look back in those years, it took time for those guys to learn how to win,” Boudreau said. “And I was like, ‘No way, I still have lots of time to go.’ But it does. “But the thing that struck me was the kind of person he was. “I’m pretty sure he gave me the greatest compliment of my life, when he said I was the best coach, other than Scotty Bowman, that he ever had,” Boudreau said. “The first thing he would do is he would take his suit off and he’d put on these pajama pants and Uggs shoes,” Bradley said. But he was always a calming influence for us, on the bench and in the room. Now I was going to share the locker room, share the stories, take his experience that he brings.” It was important for us to have a guy like that to anchor the room.” “If something needed to be said, Feds said it and everyone would listen.”