I think they should. To me, taking a number out of circulation and retiring a number are essentially the same thing, with the only difference being that you get to throw a party. I’d love to glance up and see a big #16 every now and then.
Detroit's retired numbers are a very exclusive club though. Currently outside of Sawchuk who had the all-time wins mark at the time of his retirement every single member in the rafters has the following. They all served as Captain of the team, won at least three cups and are in the HHOF. Getting your number retired in Detroit is a different deal, it might be one of the most exclusive things in all of sports and I like that about it.
While I have all the time in the world to talk about it being disgraceful that they took down Aurie. I don't really have a problem with how seriously they take this to get the honor. For the record the Ilitch family also takes this pretty seriously with the Tigers, for years they allowed Trammell's number to stay in circulation despite a lot of heat locally to stop it, so taking #16 out of circulation publicly isn't a small step. Tramms was retired after being inducted by the veterans committee. But being in the HHOF is a big requirement for them, it also was what they were saying when they took down Aurie's number before they stopped talking on it entirely.
The Pistons just for another example retire everybody, even bench guys off their championship teams and I don't really like that...
But Osgood, Shanahan and others like Ullman would be retired in a lot of cities.
Honestly and I love Vladdy but he doesn't even have the best case for the best D-man missing in franchise history not to have the honor. That would really belong to Ebbie Goodfellow.
I think Fedorov probably deserves the honor, even he would be by far the weakest Red Wings resume up in the rafters. They have said Zetterberg will get the honor a few times publicly, we will see, I don't think anybody should go up before Fedorov and that would include Konstantinov. It was sad it ended the way it did for sure, but there is a lot of tradition in Detroit, getting your jersey retired is really joining the elite of the elite and I hope they keep it that way even if the Ilitch's sell the team.
Keep in mind the for those that like to criticize the Ilitch family, only Howe and Aurie were retired when he bought the team. I remember going to all the big 50's guys retirements in the early 90s, because of the problems they had on their exit with the Norris family. They have set a very big standard that is in line with the historic nature of the organization. They used to even put in their programs that they didn't honor the league decision to take #99 out of circulation for them with a note within the program. That was really to play to the older crowd that disliked league wide retirement of Gretzky and thought you could have done the same for Howe. Is what it is, but there is a lot of thought into this in Detroit and they haven't nor do I think they are going to retire Konstantinov. Honestly I would prefer the put #16 on a really special talent at this point and put it back in circulation.