How the Red Wings Lost Out on Pavel Bure Over an NHL Rule Blunder

The Red Wings tried to draft Pavel Bure in 1989, only to be told he wasn't eligible. The NHL was wrong, and Detroit lost a future Hall of Famer.

Florida Panthers forward Pavel Bure / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"With the 95th overall pick in the 1989 NHL Draft, the Detroit Red Wings select Pavel Bure." That announcement never happened. But on June 17, 1989, it came remarkably close.

The Wings' 1989 draft class became legendary anyway. But the Russian Rocket could have been a Red Wing if Detroit had pushed the matter and asked for forgiveness rather than permission.

Then-Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano had committed to building the Red Wings through the draft rather than sacrificing young players for veterans. Ironically, just two days before the draft, he made one of the worst deals in Red Wings history when he dealt center Adam Oates and winger Paul MacLean to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for aging star center Bernie Federko and winger Tony McKegney.

Oates would go on to amass over 1,200 points after he left Detroit and became one of the premier setup men in NHL history. Just ask Brett Hull and Cam Neely.

There's Talent Abound in Europe, Now Let's Go Get It

Detroit Red Wings center Sergei Fedorov / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Devellano knew he had to find talent in places outside of North America, but he was very hesitant to jump into the deep end of the pool initially. Enter Alex Davidson.

Davidson, a Red Wings scout at the time, was in Devellano's ear about an 18-year-old kid he watched play in Russia. As Keith Gave detailed in his book The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage, Davidson told Devellano about this can't miss prospect who the Wings needed to put on their radar.

Devellano said, "I remember Alex Davidson coming to me and saying he saw the best 18-year-old player in the world, a guy named Fedorov. And I listened to him." That guy named Fedorov was none other than future Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov, who turned out to be more than a guy. He won a Hart Trophy as the league's MVP, and two Selke Trophies as the league's best defensive forward. Oh, and he also helped the Wings win three Stanley Cups. Not a bad resume for "a guy."

In the third round, the Red Wings selected another future Hall of Famer, defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom would go on to win seven Norris Trophies as the league's top defenseman, a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, and four Stanley Cup championships.

Devellano may have been done with Europe in his mind, but assistant general manager Neil Smith, and head scout Ken Holland had other plans. They explained there was too much Russian talent on the table to be left for another team to reap for their benefit.

As Gave detailed in The Russian Five, after Devellano acquiesced to Fedorov, Holland and Smith, both future architects of Stanley Cup winning teams, told Devellano he needed to draft Fedorov's linemate with the Central Red Army.

He's Ineligible

The Red Wings were poised to pull off the ultimate coup. With Lidstrom and Fedorov already in the fold, the Red Wings informed NHL vice president and general counsel Gil Stein they were going to take Bure with their fifth-round pick. Gave described the scene as the Red Wings were advised by Stein that Bure wasn't eligible to be selected. Detroit's European scout Christer Rockstrom vehemently disagreed and believed he could prove Bure was eligible.

New York Rangers right wing Pavel Bure / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While the Red Wings were gathering proof, another team already had the evidence they needed to secure Bure. In a 2021 episode of Sportsnet's Hey Burkie, former Canucks director of hockey operations Brian Burke recalled the bizarre rule surrounding Bure.

"We had the game sheets in Cyrillic alphabet," Burke said. "The information that Central Scouting distributed to teams was that he played in nine games in the top league in Russia." In Burke's telling, a Canucks scout said Central Scouting had bad intel. "(Scout) Mike Penny is the one that really deserves the most credit for Pavel Bure," Burke explained. "We had the game sheets in Cyrillic alphabet and Mike had information that he played two additional games in St. Petersburg."

Chaos at the Podium

Detroit was salivating at the winged wheel to take Bure with their sixth-round pick at 116, but the Canucks put an Iron Curtain sized wrench in their plans. Three picks before Detroit's turn at No. 116, the Canucks selected Bure at No. 113, and all hell broke loose on the floor of the Met Center.

Burke recalled the scene. "So we took him, and people went nuts on the draft floor," Burke said. "People stormed the stage. People were standing, yelling at NHL director of Central Scouting, Jim Gregory, screaming at him, 'He not eligible, he's not eligible.'" Burke said Gregory's response was, "Guys, they can take whomever they like."

In Hey Burkie, Burke told television personality Jeff Marek a team could select anyone they wanted, but the pick was at the team's discretion. "I could draft Jeff Marek tomorrow if I want. But if it's not an eligible pick, the pick doesn't stand." Burke said the NHL said they would investigate the Bure pick.

The debacle went on for a year all the way up until the 1990 NHL Draft in Vancouver. That's when Burke said the Canucks got the decision they had been waiting for since June 17, 1989. "So we get a knock on the door. It's Gil Stein, and he hands us a press release that they've upheld the pick. So now we get Pavel Bure awarded to the Vancouver Canucks 12 months after the draft."

Insult to Injury

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY NETWORK / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Even though Bure was now the property of the Canucks, the drama was far from over, Burke explained. The Soviet Union wasn't going to hand over their young superstar to Vancouver.

"Well, we had to sue the Russians," Burke stated. "Pavel had signed a contract as a 17-year-old, but his dad had co-signed as his guardian." Burke went on to say the Canucks had to search far and wide in the United States for a state that was attractive for ruling in a case such as this.

"We had to find a state that was favorable to voiding contracts signed by 17-year-olds. We handpicked the jurisdiction. We looked at all 50 states and said, 'Where's the best case law?' And it was Michigan."

The irony? The Red Wings narrowly missed drafting Bure, and the Canucks went in Detroit's own backyard to fight the legal battle that helped get him to Vancouver.

The Wings may have lost out on Bure, but they weren't done prospecting for gold in Russia. In the 11th round of that '89 draft, the Red Wings used the 221st overall pick on another member of the Central Red Army, defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov.

Getting Konstantinov to Detroit would be another story in itself. But once he arrived, he developed into one of the NHL's most feared blueliners and became an integral part of the Red Wings team that finally ended the franchise's 42-year Stanley Cup drought in 1997.

Bure would never wear the Winged Wheel. He scored 437 goals in the NHL in a career that was ended too soon because of injuries. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

So yes, the Red Wings came tatalizingly close to walking away from the 1989 draft with three future Hall of Famers. Instead, they walked away with Lidstrom, Fedorov, and Konstantinov as part of a draft class that helped change the course of the franchise. Not a bad consolation prize.