Pittsburgh will grab some value here (IMO) to start the 3rd pairing with. He was a strong offensive player with a lot of big minutes played as a top defender domestically and on the national team with Ragulin. RH shot who can also help on the PP.
Eduard Ivanov, D
3x Soviet 1st-Team All Star
1x Soviet 2nd-Team All Star
1x Soviet 3rd-Team All Star
1x Olympic Gold Medalist
3x World Championships Gold Medalist
4x Soviet League Champion
Best forward in 1964 Olympics/World Championships as a Defenseman
Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame Member
Hockey handbook (1977):
"Hockey-universalist,
equally strong and useful in both defence and attack. Physically gifted,
bold, fast and very skilled in puckhandling and physical play. Capable of organizing the attack. Had an accurate long pass and a strong shot from the blue line."
Farid Bektemirov (championat.com):
"Ivanov on the ice was like a locomotive - an athlete of great size and quite muscular, yet able to skate at incredible speeds, unusual for hockey. Opponents tried, to put it mildly, to avoid direct confrontation with this imposing figure, who was capable of winning any struggle and coming out with the puck, in open ice as well as the corners. In addition, Eduard Georgievich Ivanov had (as is often the case with attacking defenders) a powerful shot, but differed from many of his colleagues in that he also had excellent vision of the ice and amazing accuracy on his passes.
For many years, these qualities allowed him to be one of the best offensive defensemen in the country".
Tarasov (1968):
"Again, the organizers of the tournament could not decide which of the Soviet players should receive a special prize. A Salomonic decision was reached: the prize was handed to our team captain Boris Mayorov, so that he could transfer it to the team and we would then decide who our best player was.
At the general meeting, the players agreed with the coaches that the prize (Best forward of the tournament) should be given to Eduard Ivanov. (...)
As tight-knight and selfless as this team was, Ivanov still stood out with his amazing courage. He willingly threw himself in front of the puck, not just in desperate situations. Constantly looking for an opportunity to show his bravery and selflessness, he didn't spare himself in search of the toughest combat. And he did it all with a smile and inspired the other players with his enthusiasm."
Sologubov: (saying Ivanov was a more modern defender than either Ragulin or Kuzkin)
"The hockey-defenceman has long ceased to just be a destroyer.
Now he is a creator, a full-fledged partner of the forwards, someone who strikes the target no worse than the most skilled attackers, sometimes even better. A good defenceman knows how to anticipate the next moves in the development and continuation of an attack and to be back in time for the critical work on defence. (...)
If you ask me which of the current defencemen comes closest to the type of a modern defenceman, the first I will name is Eduard Ivanov of CSKA, and – sometimes – xxxxxxx. To a lesser degree, Viktor Kuzkin and Aleksandr Ragulin."
Boris Mayorov: (
very high praise for Ivanov's game, citing relentless mentality on the ice and apparently was a great leader by action)
"
Every forward can only dream of playing with a defenceman like Ivanov, a daringly courageous player who fought tooth and claw and forced his teammates to fight too. He really knew how to lead a team. I've personally never had a better partner among the defencemen I played with and I can't imagine there will ever be one. Others among our defencemen manage to give the puck to one of the forwards, but that's where it ends. Whether it is convenient for me to receive the pass or not, whether I can develop a further attack from my position – that's no longer his concern: 'Now you've got the puck, do something with it, my job is already done.' Ivanov didn't play like that, it was alien to his entire way of thinking. If the timing was bad for me and I wasn't ready to receive a pass, he would try it on his own and he would try everything, but he would keep the puck to himself and not pass it to me
Occasionally he was a hot head but nothing that seems over the top:
Tarasov (1987):
"In Eduard there was always a youthful passion, a kind of grit and an irrepressible game fantasy.
He was everywhere, got involved in physical encounters anywhere on the ice and he didn't let the opponent come to his senses or lift his head up. Even the Canadians remembered their encounters with Ivanov for a long time, as he didn't strip them off the puck with cleverness but with unusually violent temper. He neither spared himself nor the opponent. (...) He didn't concede anything to anyone, he knew how to tame an opponent like no-one else.
However, his brakes didn't always work: unfortunately, he would sometimes start a scrimmage himself."
Vyacheslav Starshinov:
"Eduard was gritty, impulsive and explosive. He was passionate, maybe too passionate. He was a fighter to the bone."
