Uhh... He joined the NHL in his 30's.
But more importantly you have to watch a documentary called "the Red Army" to understand his contribution to hockey, and why Russia was so dominant in International competition.
They never played "lines" or matchups.
The Soviets played in 5-man units. They didn't play designated positions like Winger, or defense. They just switched it back forth up down, etc.
These Soviets woke up in a barracks at 6am and trained all-day-night all-year together as a 5-man unit as a part of the Soviet Army team. They basically learned to play with each other by developing a 6th sense of where each other were on the ice.
The older soviets that defected early didn't easily adapt to play a singular position or a rigid system that required them to be in 1-zone or "neutral zone trap". It wasn't until Scotty Bowman reunited a Russian Unit that we saw the Soviet style absolutely dominate again.
Over the next 2 decades coaches started to dissect What the f*** was happening, and how they were able to do this. And this has now turned the entire NHL into the puck-posession style game we often see today.
Incredible movie:
