What I posted wasn't a small sample international play but 3 seasons of the elite Soviet league and a game sample of over 100 games. Even if he weren't a superior playmaker he wasn't that much inferior and that was the point. He still led his NHL team in assists 5 times. Not his fault he mostly played with subpar players.
I don't see what small samples of international play has to do with peak production in the NHL over a single season. Same with how Bure performed in Russia. That's just it, he (pretty much) had the freedom to play how he wanted to play in the NHL, no longer under Tikhonov's watchful eye. If he was a superior playmaker to Fedorov or Mogilny in Russia, he wasn't that guy in the NHL.
The 2nd portion was directed at you, responding to their stats in Russia.
Stylistically, he's a guy looking for his own shot first, holding onto the puck most of the time. Can he pass? Of course. Can he generate offense? Of course. Did he play in a way that he was playmaking for others? I don't think so. Not in the sense that he was going out there, trying to make his linemates better, with the intention of igniting their offense. I think he wanted to get himself going, above all else. He can rack up a certain amount of assists, without necessarily being a fascilitator. I think his assists are more of a product of his being a line-driver, and less to do with being a playmaker. I think people massage the two together at times, I don't.
Bure led the league in SOG 4 times, and if he didn't have so many truncated seasons, he's probably getting there literally every single year. That's not a playmaker in my opinion. With Bure, he's looking for his shot 1st, 2nd, and then he'll feed it to whoever's left open. If he was more of a playmaker in Russia, congratulations, but he wasn't that guy in the NHL.
I used Iverson in an earlier post, because I think both guys get too much credit for "carrying the team on their backs", but they're not the easiest guys to play with (or build a roster around). Also, they can get their own offense going in the playoffs, but the team surrounding them are easier to gameplan against.
As far as his mostly playing with subpar players, I think those early '90s Canucks teams were pretty good, though I'll say that I thought he was the best player on those teams (overall). I'll agree that he was pretty much the best player on his team almost every year that he played for. I don't necessarily think he was dealt a bad hand though.