"Very Popular" Fischer Eyes Upward Trajectory in Second Year with Red Wings
Christian Fischer, whom Steve Yzerman commended for "character and personality," returns to Detroit for a second year, fueled by the sting of missing the playoffs
The summer is treating 27-year-old Red Wings winger Christian Fischer well.
Having just signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract to remain in Detroit, Fischer greets the assembled media for his Zoom press conference from a boat, nautical gauges mounted on the wooden wall behind him. He expresses seriocomic surprise that anyone would stick around now that Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko have already spoken. Later on in his availability, with help from the confirmation of a disembodied voice offscreen, he reveals he is Zooming in from off the coast of Capri.
That Fischer delivers such idyllic offseason vibes should come as no surprise. Days before he spoke, his general manager Steve Yzerman said, in explanation of the desire to bring back the hard-working, light-scoring forward, "he's a very popular player on our team. He's very versatile on the ice...His character and his personality and the role he's gonna play on our team are the biggest factors in bringing him back."
Of course, the offseason didn't begin so peachily. By Fischer's account, there were "probably quite a few emotions" in the immediate aftermath of the Red Wings bitterly close playoff pursuit. Fischer himself was out of a contract for the second summer in a row. That shrouded his summer in uncertainty until the option he desired all along formally opened. "Once Steve called, I think it was a no-brainer on our side," Fischer said. "We didn't wait for another call."
To Fischer, the willingness of superstars like Kane and Tarasenko to choose Detroit affirms the seriousness of the Red Wings' ambitions: "We got Hall-of-Famers signing contracts with us. A guy like Patrick, he could go to any team...I think that says a lot about our organization. You look at Tarasenko, the guy's just won. He has two Stanley Cups. He's not coming just to play hockey. That guy obviously sees something in the Red Wings."
"I don't think anybody was was too happy with how things shook out," Fischer declares, and he believes those emotions will inspire action. "And obviously, that March really did us a disservice, but as athletes, as hockey players, I think every guy probably who was returning probably has a little bit more extra motivation this summer to do whatever, to take that next step in whatever it may be for your game, just to improve...
"Maybe that's maybe that's two more goals or three more goals for myself, you know? You start to think of players like that, that are competitive that want to you know, who you don't want to go down that route of what could or what if we did this but so damn close...To feel kind of the pain with everybody and to see how much guys cared at the end and kind of talking amongst guys, just in the locker room or the days, the weeks after. Just...so close, so close, and it makes you want to work harder. I think every guy is definitely going to be extra motivated to come into the season just because of how it transpired at the end of last year."
Fischer knows that his game will never be defined by scoring totals, but he also believes he under-achieved offensively a year ago. "All summers are huge, but definitely wasn't too pleased with my offensive production," he says. "I know I should be well over the double-digit goal mark."
Fischer scored five goals in 79 games last year in Detroit, after 13 goals the year prior with the now defunct Coyotes. An unusual wrinkle to the summer has been watching the franchise that drafted him and for whom he played his first 398 NHL games finally give up on Arizona.
"Last probably month-and-a-half, two months, I've been out at my house in Scottsdale," he says, when asked about the Coyotes' move to Utah. "Usually spend a good chunk of my summer out there training and skating. Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, those are two of my closest buddies, so we spend quite a few days working out in the summer.
"Obviously a pretty crazy transition for 'em. I don't want to speak too much for them, but I know they're both so excited to join a new ownership group with Ryan Smith. I don't have to tell you guys. You know how the stories went in Arizona for the last—longer than I've been there....Obviously a good changeup just to get a fresh start for those guys, hopefully having the ownership committed and spending some money and being a competitive team." It is the last sentence that speaks loudest about his own experience as a Coyote and thoughts on the necessity of the move.
Fischer got out of Arizona a year earlier than Keller and Schmaltz, so for him, the coming season is not a fresh start but a chance to build. And the ever optimistic Fischer is confident in what he and his teammates have under construction.
"We're not building the culture," Fischer clarifies. "The Detroit Red Wings have the culture, but to start to make the progression and the next step that this team needs to get into the postseason and on."
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