Why doesn't Russia develop more elite defenseman?

[x Tame Impala]

Since the lockout there have been plenty of amazing Russian forwards and more than a few excellent Russian goalies. Why are we not seeing any elite or Hall of Fame level defenseman coming out of Russia in general?

Markov, Gonchar, Orlov, Sergachev, Tyutin, Provorov, Kulikov, Zadorov, Zaitsev, and Voynov had his moment before he torched his career. Markov and Gonchar both had very good careers but they retired 8 & 10 years ago respectively. Zubov is the last great Russian Dman and it makes me curious why we haven't seen any Fetisov-level (who I LOVE) talents coming into the league since he himself retired in 98.

Sergachev was looking promising for a short while and Provorov seems to have fizzled out in terms of being a great #1D, both players I considered to have very high potential. Are we expecting Norris level play in the future from Mintyukov in Anaheim or my by Levshunov in Chicago (although he's Belrussian)? Why is Russia so great at developing point producing forwards, mostly wingers at that, and goalies but not defenseman?

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[SnowblindNYR]

I think 15 years ago we were asking why they only had one good goalie and he was from Kazakhstan. These things are cyclical.

 

[Kegs]

Russians like to create offence. :p

 

[Prairie Habs]

That's just how she goes sometimes. Like how Canada hasn't developed any top goalies in a while. It will happen again at some point.

 

[JFedol]

Russians like to create offence. :p

Only from the Wing

 

[Kegs]

Only from the Wing

Centre is like a third defensemen

 

[ViD]

What ?

Russia has been producing some very good defensive prospects as of late, we soon might be looking at

Nikishin - Mintyukov
Simashev - Silayev
Gulyaev - Mukhamadullin

That’s without all of the current NHLers like Sergachev, Provorov, Zub, Gavrikov, Romanov, Miromanov etc

I think that’s easily on par with Sweden, Finland

 

[x Tame Impala]

What ?

Russia has been producing some very good defensive prospects as of late, we soon might be looking at

Nikishin - Mintyukov
Simashev - Silayev
Gulyaev - Mukhamadullin

That’s without all of the current NHLers like Sergachev, Provorov, Zub, Gavrikov, Romanov, Miromanov etc

I think that’s easily on par with Sweden, Finland

Good prospects, sure but there's a canyon of development between that and becoming an elite defenseman. I think you'd agree with me that Sergachev is the best on that list and it's not like he's getting any Norris consideration. Even if Sergachev isn't the best of that bunch I don't think anyone else you listed is even close to being regarded as a top-tier defenseman.

 

[JFedol]

Centre is like a third defensemen

That's another reason why there so valuable

 

[bleachdrinker]

Only from the Wing

With Putin putting up 8 goals while playing center, there’s no reason to develop anything but wings

 

[mr figgles]

They only know how to attack

 

[JFedol]

I would take old ass Igor Larionov, who was really was an underrated player over any all time Russian Winger besides Ovechkin and Kuch

 

[ViD]

Good prospects, sure but there's a canyon of development between that and becoming an elite defenseman. I think you'd agree with me that Sergachev is the best on that list and it's not like he's getting any Norris consideration. Even if Sergachev isn't the best of that bunch I don't think anyone else you listed is even close to being regarded as a top-tier defenseman.

Yes, there was a huge gap in time since we had a guy like Gonchar / Markov, but we never had such a strong defensive corp before like we do now and you can definitely expect better Russian d men in the future

I would take old ass Igor Larionov, who was really was an underrated player over any all time Russian Winger besides Ovechkin and Kuch

There’s been plenty of Russian wingers, NHLers or Soviet, better than Larionov, who’s obviously a great one himself

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yes, there was a huge gap in time since we had a guy like Gonchar / Markov, but we never had such a strong defensive corp before like we do now and you can definitely expect better Russian d men in the future

I’ve been waiting for the next Fetisov ever since I watched “Red Army” and “Russian Five”

 

[ViD]

I’ve been waiting for the best Fetisov ever since I watched “Red Army” and “Russian Five”

Fetisov is a generational Russian d man and it’s going to be hard to develop someone that good

 

[chris kontos]

Vladimir konstantinov deserves a shooutout as a great russian d man from murmansk

 

[fahad203]

Fetisov is a generational Russian d man and it’s going to be hard to develop someone that good

Very unfortunate we got to see Larionov, Fetisov, Makarov in their latter years.
Despite of that, they did really well. Kudos to all of them

Besides handful of really good D, Russia traditionally doesn't produce that many grade A defencemen for some reason

Primarily maybe because they believe in defense by committee. Even the old soviets, the forwards used to drop and backcheck. Something NHL players rarely did until the late 90s

 

[westc2]

Here's my theory:

Only the flashy offensive guys get drafted to the NHL, and most flashy offensive players in Russia play forward since they have a different hockey culture.