Hockey history is littered with similarly gifted players who did not succeed at the highest level because they lacked the "toolbox" to go along with their tools. If you think Krutov's famous strength (which strangely disappeared in Vancouver) wasn't a major advantage for him as a player, I'm not sure the word ignorant does that position justice.
You can be as mad about it as you want, but that won't change the fact that there are very real and serious questions about Krutov's career in light of the allegations and the circumstantial evidence surrounding his precipitous fall from grace.
Yeah, I'm, like, really mad, like.
Highest level? Oh, I think he reached the highest level around the 1987 Canada Cup, when he was considered the best player in Europe even by Canadian media. Better than Makarov, Fetisov etc.
And what, is HFBoards supposed to be LA friggin' Law or something? Okay, I'll play along.
Whatever happened to "Innocent until proven guilty". I'd say you are still far far away from proving that he took steroids. (Although I can see that you don't feel that you even need to, whatever.) Of course, each 'juror' to his own. But the fact remains that Krutov was never caught cheating, and neither was any other Soviet great, even though notable Finnish and Swedish players (e.g. Juhani Tamminen and Anders Hedberg) have stated publicly that the Soviets were (generally) using illicit drugs - without naming any specific names and, of course, not providing any true evidence.
Is there even proof that Krutov knew about that piece by this Willes, or (if he did) that he gave a damn? Are there any interviews where Krutov is confronted with this issue? Was it a big news in the (hockey) world?
BTW, I was talking about people who have made suggestions à la "product of steroids" and/or "weakest link on KLM", which is, yes, simply ignorant, and certainly not very truthful, when one has truly watched him play and has bothered to look at his accolades & stats. But hey, Ãf the shoe fits, wear it.