When the Denver television reporter approached Sergei Fedorov, the Red Wings center had been talking for several minutes with three writers about his dissatisfaction with the way Detroit coach Dave Lewis is using him.

	When Sergei Fedorov did see the ice Saturday, he was held at bay by Adam Foote and the Avs.

When the TV reporter asked about the frustration generated by the Red Wings' 5-3 loss to the Avalanche, Fedorov didn't even bother to switch to clichéd expressions of "the-team's-the-thing" angst.

"I was actually talking to the other guys about my personal things, about not playing a lot and not being used a lot, so what can I say?" Fedorov said quietly. "I can't really overcome the game if I'm not in the game myself, so personally I just want to execute the game plan and play a little bit better. Unfortunately, it didn't happen because of the less minutes I played. It's very upsetting."

Fedorov's point? He played only 5:04 in the first period and a total of 14:59 against Colorado, and his average ice time has diminished as the season progresses. That's not doghouse or fourth-line time, of course, but it sure isn't what you'd expect one of the game's superstars to get in a critical game -- especially with Steve Yzerman out. Fedorov suffered a neck strain in the third period, but he seemed destined to be under 17 minutes, regardless, as Lewis was committed to getting significant time for the Sean Avery-Boyd Devereaux-Tomas Holmstrom line, especially after Holmstrom scored twice.

Fedorov is overreacting a bit in the sense that his threshold seems to be 20 minutes; anything under that, and he is insulted. Colorado's Peter Forsberg is averaging 19:48, or 64 seconds fewer than Fedorov's 20:52. But Fedorov has logged less than 20 minutes in seven of the Wings' past 10 games, and for him, that's intolerable. It's no consolation that his average minutes remain higher under Lewis than they were under Bowman last season.

"Of course, I'm thinking I should be playing more," said Fedorov, who had 16 goals in the Red Wings' first 30 games. "Of course, it's always been a problem so far in my career. I have to tell you honestly, I thought we had great teams the last few years. We won the Cup, right? Right now, we're struggling. The first 20 games, I was needed. After that, I don't know what happened. Maybe because my contract is up? Maybe it could be something else. I don't know what to think anymore. I'm just upset, that's all."

	Fedorov's Past 10 Games
	Sergei Fedorov has played more than 20 minutes three times the past 10 games.
	Date	Opp.	G-A-P	Time
	Jan. 16	W, 4-2 at COL	0-1-1	17:35
	Jan. 19	L, 4-1 vs. VAN	0-0-0	19:45
	Jan. 22	L, 4-3 at EDM	0-1-1	15:54
	Jan. 24	W, 5-2 at VAN	1-2-3	17:40
	Jan. 25	L, 4-1 at CGY	0-0-0	20:11
	Jan. 28	L, 1-0 at NJD	0-0-0	20:19
	Jan. 30	T, 2-2 vs. FLA	0-1-1	18:04
	Feb. 4	T, 5-5 vs. NAS	0-1-1	21:57
	Feb. 6	L, 1-0 vs. COL	0-0-0	19:40
	Feb. 8	L, 5-3 at COL	0-1-1	14:59

Fedorov said he "was dry on the bench in the first period. I was just watching the game as a spectator."

Did that surprise him?

"What do you mean, surprised?" he countered. "It pissed me off. Surprise me? There isn't such a thing, there is nothing in this league that surprises me anymore. But it definitely got me upset, that's for sure. Obviously I'm just one of those guys just watching this hockey game, instead of participating in it.

"As far as I was concerned, it looks like it's been pretty much the whole season. Four lines, never mind the best players play as many minutes as they possibly can."

Fedorov acknowledged that he hasn't converted his chances lately, but resolved to "give up thinking, just sit there on the bench and watch how the rest of the team is playing."

Surely, he wasn't suggesting that general manager Ken Holland was telling Lewis not to play Fedorov -- who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and has turned down the Red Wings' long-term offer (reportedly in the realm of $50 million over five years) and switched agents -- a ton of minutes?

"I'd rather not elaborate about that, because it wouldn't make any sense, because I don't have any facts," said Fedorov, who obviously couldn't write for a tabloid newspaper. "After scoring so many goals and be useful to the team in so many ways, and our team was roaring for the first 20 games. After that, everything slowed down and we moved away from the key plays, and the game is just gone. The momentum is just gone. Quantity right now is more important than quality. That's just the way I see it."

Back in Detroit on Sunday, Fedorov reiterated to reporters that he didn't understand why he "can't play 24 or 25 or 27 minutes a game if the team really needs it." Generally, he didn't back off, but he did say: "Maybe I was out of line, but last night was one of those nights when I decided enough is enough and I'm going to speak out this time. I don't want to hold anything back. It doesn't make sense anymore."

Heading into the final two months of the regular season, there is turmoil in Hockeytown, and not simply because of Fedorov's roughly biannual public airing of his anguish. Even with Fedorov, the issue isn't so much the painstaking splitting of hairs over his playing time -- how much is enough? -- but whether it is simply part of a pattern of malaise and discontent that will linger.

Before Monday night's home game against San Jose, the Wings hadn't won in six games, going 0-4-2 and falling five points behind the amazingly resilient St. Louis Blues in the Central Division. The most intriguing first-round playoff possibility in the league now is a Detroit-Colorado matchup, which could come off if the Wings remain in the No. 4 spot and resurgent Colorado moves up to 5 -- or if the slots are reversed.

Is it time for panic in Detroit? Time to write off the Wings as threats to repeat?

Of course not.

There are problems, but the return of Yzerman, the combustible Darren McCarty and the grating Chris Chelios, plus a stepping-up by Curtis Joseph, could revitalize the Wings. Plus, even the Wings in their championship seasons went through lulls, which in hockey more than any other sport trigger temporary overreaction. It's not as if everything always was rosy under Scotty Bowman, who could use Fedorov on defense, aggravate Brendan Shanahan, or act as if he would have preferred Randy Robitaille over Luc Robitaille. And everything usually worked out, as Scotty knew it would.

The biggest single problem now is that Joseph has not won over his teammates. He hasn't been awful. He wasn't against Colorado, either -- and clearly was the victim of a horrible non-call when Forsberg interfered with him on Colorado's fourth goal, which came on Adam Foote's shot from the right point.

But Joseph hasn't instilled in his teammates the confidence of knowing that the goaltender provides them a considerable margin of error. As quirky and even aggravating as Dominik Hasek could be -- he gave Patrick Roy a run for his money in the "who-me?" school of self-evaluation -- the Czech goalie somehow had his teammates in that comfort zone almost from the day he stepped into the Red Wings' crease.

Joseph has yet to earn that trust.

With Yzerman still out but practicing again and hoping to return by the playoffs, the Wings are not rudderless, but you do sometimes get the feeling that his teammates are surprisingly uninspired and aimless during his absence.

Part of that could be because they no longer have the unifying motivation of showing "&%#! Scotty" a thing or two, but the absence of the peerless genius (in his own inexplicable way) wasn't a debilitating problem early in the season; and it shouldn't be now. Lewis and associate coach Barry Smith aren't doing all that much different than they used to do, and it's not as if this is a revolution of approach.

"All we can do is get back to work," said Lewis. "It has to be worked out. It's worked out with position, it's worked out with commitment, it's worked out with assessment.

"We've been bit by the injury bug, but a lot of teams have that. We just have to find a way to win, basically."

In the context of this slide, Fedorov's frustration makes sense, actually. He is asking to have a chance to help pull the Wings out of the skid, but Lewis doesn't seem committed to letting him have as much opportunity as possible to do it. That's curious, and Fedorov is not simply a whining malcontent on that point. Yes, at times, he comes off as if he has taken a whack to the side of the head and is woozy, or even lovesick.

"He hasn't been as, I don't know if 'fresh' is the right word, but players go through cycles like that in a long season," Lewis said.

Ultimately, Fedorov was asked if he still felt as if his first preference was to return to the Wings next season.

"Let's not go there, OK?" he said. "Let's just try to take care of one thing at a time."

Dave Lewis probably would second that motion.

Terry Frei is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. His book, Simon and Schuster's "Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming," is available nationwide.