Former Red Wings Player Kozlov Remembers His Friend

As a member of the Detroit Red Wings Russian Five, forward Slava Kozlov was naturally drawn to form a bond with his Russian compatriot Sergei Mnatsakanov.

“I have a very warm attitude towards Mnatsakanov,” Kozlov told writer Igor Rabiner of the Russian website Sport Express.

“We immediately became friends. He was such a warm-hearted person. We became close, visited each other, I introduced him to my parents.”

The Detroit Red Wings are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov. Sergei was a member of the 1997 Stanley Cup Championship team that brought the first Stanley Cup to Hockeytown in 42 years.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife,… pic.twitter.com/AaPYjJjM4X

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 24, 2024

Mnatsakanov, formerly the Red Wings team masseir, died last week in Florida of cancer. He was 71. Mnatasakanov was left paralyzed below the waist and with debilitating brain injuries when he was a passenger with Red Wings players Vladimir Konstantinov and Slava Fetisov in a July 13, 1997 limousine accident.

“We saw each other after the accident, in Florida, until I returned to Russia,” said Kozlov, today serving as an assitant coach with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL.

“He was very good-natured,” Kozlov said of Mnatsakanov. “Everyone on the team loved him. He spoke little, his English was not very good. But he treated everyone with respect, gave everyone his time and attention.

“He was very much appreciated in Detroit.”

Red Wings Owners Continued To Pay Salary

According to Kozlov, the Ilitch family, owners of the Red Wings, would continue to pay Mnatasakanov his salary throughout his life. He also was recalling how Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman kept a 24/7 vigil at the hospital bedsides of Mnatsakanov and Konstantinov following the accident.

Konstantinov was also left with debilitating brain injuries, ending his all-star career just days after winning the Stanley Cup.

“(He) talked to them the whole time they were in a coma,” Kozlov said. “It was the off-season, and his big family was waiting for him in Buffalo. But Scotty flew out as soon as he heard about what had happened.”

The story of how Mnatsakanov came to he hired by the Red Wings is a tale of happenstance. His sons were playing hockey in North America and he came to visit them. By chance, he ran into Red Wings defenseman Slava Fetisov. Fetisov knew him from Russia and would invite Mnatsakanov to Joe Louis Arena to give him a massage.

Bowman was at the rink when the two arrived and Mnatsakanov also gave the coach a massage. The Red Wings then were extending him an invitation to work with the team on a voluntary basis and he accepted. Prior to the next season (1995-96) Mnatsakanov’s hiring to the team staff was made permanent.

“Scotty really loved Sergei, treated him like a friend, like a father,” Kozlov recalled. “When Mnatsakanov regained consciousness, he remembered everyone and was smart. You could hold a conversation with him. I remember that he often cried.

“His wife Lena was always by his side, devoting herself entirely to caring for Sergey. You can imagine what a difficult time that was for the family.”