Select The Five Greatest Russian Hockey Players of All Time

[Gurglesons]

Well he was a treat to watch and has totally different personality compared to average russian Joe being unselfish, kind and down to earth. Could be just me dreaming tho.

Lol. I suggest reading up on Datsyuk if you think he is “kind”.

 

[K Fleur]

Ovechkin, Fetisov, Malkin, and Makarov are the clear top 4 for me(not in that order but OV is definitely #1). 5th I went with Kharlamov but it will be Kucherov soon.

 

[Tupu]

Lol. I suggest reading up on Datsyuk if you think he is “kind”.

Care to elaborate then? Seen and talked him in person so I've been making my mind based on that. Not only by what media says lol.

 

[Pierre Larouche]

You're welcome but to add further, before someone cries about "Soviets cared about international play, not the Soviet league", Makarov was an 8x world championship AST to Kharlamov's 3x. The worship of Kharlamov is absolutely ridiculous.

It’s not ridiculous.

 

[Pierre Larouche]

I see some people are mentioning Tretiak and Kharlamov. How can you define them as top 5 all time when they haven't played in the NHL, the best and toughest league in the world?

I think one of the reasons is that they were amazing when they played in international games like the Summit Series, WHA Canada Russian Series, Challenge Cup, etc.

Yeah but they haven't played in NHL which is the toughest competition league. Makarov did and he was pretty good but there are many Russian players played in the NHL that were and are better than Makarov

Makarov, like Krutov was at the end of his career. They dominated in every Canada v the CCCP tournaments.

 

[Pierre Larouche]

Yeah but they haven't played in NHL which is the toughest competition league. Makarov did and he was pretty good but there are many Russian players played in the NHL that were and are better than Makarov

Makarov, like Krutov was at the end of his career. They dominated in every Canada v the CCCP tournaments.

Well he was a treat to watch and has totally different personality compared to average russian Joe being unselfish, kind and down to earth. Could be just me dreaming tho.

Pasha was a brilliant player. He did things no one else was doing at this time.

 

[Caps8112]

dont know how Bure gets so much love. Yes he was an amazing speedy goal scorer. Ovi has caught shit his whole career for being one dimensional, criminally underrating the rest of his game. Bure is the absolute definition of one dimensional. He literally did nothing else. Saw him play at mci center in the midst of his 60 goal seasons and he literally stood at center ice. He never went back into his zone. maybe when he was young and motivated you could mistake his speed at overtaking players and stealing the puck as some type of defense but it would be just that, a mistake. Absolutely amazing high light goal scorer with incredible speed but he did absolutely nothing else.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Four of these were easy: Ovechkin, Fetisov, Tretiak, Makarov

The 5th is a bit of a tossup between a few players. I went with Kharlamov because the criterion is "greatest", and I don't think anyone else has quite touched Kharlamov's legend in terms of what he means to Russia. It's a bit like asking who are the 5 greatest NHL players, you probably include Maurice Richard.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Was Bure actually better thank Malkin?

He peaked a bit before I really appreciated the game.

Four of these were easy: Ovechkin, Fetisov, Tretiak, Makarov

The 5th is a bit of a tossup between a few players. I went with Kharlamov because the criterion is "greatest", and I don't think anyone else has quite touched Kharlamov's legend in terms of what he means to Russia. It's a bit like asking who are the 5 greatest NHL players, you probably include Maurice Richard.

I basically voted the exact same. A lot were before my time so really I am basing my votes on the reverance given in historical hockey books and documentaries.

edit: Actually, I voted Federov.

 

[Weztex]

dont know how Bure gets so much love. Yes he was an amazing speedy goal scorer. Ovi has caught shit his whole career for being one dimensional, criminally underrating the rest of his game. Bure is the absolute definition of one dimensional. He literally did nothing else. Saw him play at mci center in the midst of his 60 goal seasons and he literally stood at center ice. He never went back into his zone. maybe when he was young and motivated you could mistake his speed at overtaking players and stealing the puck as some type of defense but it would be just that, a mistake. Absolutely amazing high light goal scorer with incredible speed but he did absolutely nothing else.

I was amazed to read so many people ranking Bure ahead of Kucherov in the Kuch thread, and he still comes out ahead in this poll. Kucherov has at least an equivalent regular season peak and blows him out of the water in the playoffs. All the while being a more complete player and actually making those around him better. At this point, I find that ranking hard to justify.

Being a spectacular goal scorer and electrifying skater, I think Bure caught the imagination of a lot of people, me included. But highlight YouTube videos and nostalgia seem to overrate the player he actually was. Which often was, especially after going to FLA, a lazy, selfish and unidimensional one. As entertaining as he was, I can neither view him as a top-100 player, nor rank him ahead of Datsyuk or Kucherov.

 

[BKarchitect]

I love Feds - his prime was right in my wheelhouse of hockey watching in the 90’s and when he was locked in there was almost nothing he couldn’t do out on the ice.

That said I am absolutely shocked he’s running in second place - much more shocking to me than Bure running in like 7th place. I feel like there is a lot of misrepresentation of this poll being “best NHL career” rather than best player, period. Even then, I’m confused as to how Feds is beating Malkin and not just the Soviet greats who we only got the tail end of their careers if any outside of international events. Pure talent Feds was incredible but I think with time we are romanticizing his “highs” while also forgetting that he at times could cut something of an inconsistent figure.

And he’s definitely not in the top of the convo but I’d have Val Kamensky over several of the options. He was a great player for the Nords/Avs but we still missed his peak when he was every bit as productive for CSKA as guys like Bure and Federov were.

 

[User9992]

Yeah but they haven't played in NHL which is the toughest competition league. Makarov did and he was pretty good but there are many Russian players played in the NHL that were and are better than Makarov

Kharlamov was toying with North American teams whenever he played against them, scoring spectacular solo goals

 

[um]

I'm surprised Fetisov has so few votes. I thought he was a mega star for the Soviets like Tretiak. I don't know much about USSR hockey though.