For decades now, Russia has sent the NHL many of its most talented hockey players. In this major feature from THN’s May 11, 2009 edition (Vol. 62, Issue 24), this writer profiled the impact Russians have had on hockey’s top league.
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Russian stars, including Pavel Datsyuk, left an unmistakable impression on not only their fan bases but their teammates as well.
“Our team has so much respect for those guys,” longtime Detroit Red Wings forward said of former ‘Russian Five’ teammates Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov. “Those guys did so much for Russian hockey and then came over and did it in the NHL as well.
“It was just a different mentality they had with the puck. They taught you a lot, too. Igor really would think the game and talk about the game to everybody. Slava Fetisov was a great stay-at-home defenseman who could make that great first pass. Konstantinov was probably the grittiest, toughest player I’ve ever played with and he was really coming into his own offensively before that unfortunate, tragic car accident. You look at (Slava Kozlov) and he’s still scoring goals in Atlanta and Sergei is in Washington doing what he does.
“I’ve been really spoiled, working with nothing but high-end Russian players. They’ve been a great influence on our game – and certainly on our team.”
MINORITY REPORT
Vol. 62, No. 24, May 11, 2009
By Adam Proteau
Of the 700 or so players who competed in the NHL this season, just 36 – or about five percent – were born in Russia.
However, the percentage of Russians who comprised the top three candidates for the Hart Trophy – at least, on the official awards ballot I submitted to the league – was far higher than that.
Try 100 percent. Try Washington’s Alex Ovechkin first, Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin second and Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk third.
And I’m not the only one who has been enamored by the play of the NHL’s new, not-quite-massive Red Army this season. In this issue’s THN awards, Ovechkin, Malkin and Datsyuk finished 1-2-3 in voting for our ‘Mario Lemieux Award’ as the league’s best player.
With promises of big contracts and the luxury of playing at home, the Kontinental League certainly siphoned off some Russian talent from the NHL. But it’s plain to see the KHL didn’t skim any of the cream off the top of the NHL’s Russian crop.
In addition to Ovechkin, Malkin and Datsyuk, North American hockey fans have been privileged to watch snipers Alexander Semin and Ilya Kovalchuk, puck-moving wizards Andrei Markov and Sergei Gonchar, and super stopper Evgeni Nabokov play the game far from their motherland this season.
As well, thanks to developing youngsters such as Nikita Filatov, Alexander Radulov, Viktor Tikhonov and Denis Grebeshkov, the future of Russian hockey – not to mention, their entry into the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver – also looks blindingly bright.
“The days of Russian players being motivated mainly by money are long over,” said one veteran NHL GM. “You’ll always have a handful of players who look for the big bucks first, but that mindset doesn’t apply just to Russians.
“They’ve been sending players here for enough years now that their young players grow up dreaming of playing in the NHL, rather than just playing for their country. That’s the biggest thing that’s changed for them over time.”
Don’t be fooled into thinking the Russian national team doesn’t still hold a great deal of appeal to them, though. “I learned a hell of a lesson about Russian players in the (2008 IIHF) World Championship,” said Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, who also served as bench boss for the Canadian entry that lost to Russia on home soil in the final. “I know how proud we are to be Canadians and be in hockey, but those folks are just as proud. As proud as they are to play in the National Hockey League, they’re more proud to be Russian.
“When you compete against them and battle against them, you’re in for the fight of your life.”
Veteran Detroit Red Wings center Kris Draper has played with some of Russia’s all time greats; he believes the Wings wouldn’t have enjoyed their degree of on-ice successes without their skill and tenacity.
“Our team has so much respect for those guys,” said Draper of former ‘Russian Five’ teammates Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov. “Those guys did so much for Russian hockey and then came over and did it in the NHL as well. It was just a different mentality they had with the puck.
“When (Wings coach) Scotty Bowman put the ‘Russian Five’ together, we’d sit on the bench and just be amazed at what was going on out there. You almost didn’t want to be the next line out there…If myself and (linemates Darren) McCarty and (Kirk) Maltby were going out, we were doing the exact opposite as them – dumping it in and grinding it out.
“They taught you a lot, too. Igor really would think the game and talk about the game to everybody. Slava Fetisov was a great stay-at-home defenseman who could make that great first pass. Konstantinov was probably the grittiest, toughest player I’ve ever played with and he was really coming into his own offensively before that unfortunate, tragic car accident. You look at (Slava Kozlov) and he’s still scoring goals in Atlanta and Sergei is in Washington doing what he does.
“I’ve been really spoiled, working with nothing but high-end Russian players. They’ve been a great influence on our game – and certainly on our team.”
Hitchcock, who won a Stanley Cup in Dallas with Moscow native Sergei Zubov and is aiming to win another in Columbus with Filatov (and Maksim Mayorov) coming on board, is deeply impressed by the talent many Russian players possess. But he’s more impressed by their overall dedication to the game, a trait xenophobes and tunnel visionaries have long avoided ascribing to Russians.
“I think those players make a decision very early in life that this is what they’re going to do and nothing gets in their way,” Hitchcock said. “And it’s not just they’re good players. They’re very focused, committed, good players. They’re conditioning freaks.
“To me, (Filatov) is a fitness fanatic and he’s like a lot of Russians in that he’s completely immersed in hockey all over the world; when you talk to them, they know everything about every league.
“The thing that really shocked me was that they’re just as proud of their culture and their hockey heritage and their old-time favorite hockey players as we are about ours.”
The horizon for Russian hockey wasn’t always so appealing, Draper said.
“There was a time there where you almost didn’t fear them, because they weren’t getting their best players because of what had gone on within the (Russian) Federation,” Draper said. “But now that Slava Fetisov has a presence in Russia, you can see these guys want to play for their country.
“You saw it in the (2006) Olympics in Torino…a coming together of great young Russian hockey players. Then they won the World Championship last year, and you look at the team they’re going to ice for the (Vancouver) Olympics and they have to be a favorite.”
All in all, Draper said, the Bear is back. And that ought to give everybody else grizzly chills.
“That pride factor is there again,” he said. “They’re proud to be Russian, they’re proud to put that jersey on again. With that, they can dress a world-class team.”
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