Who is the greatest Russian-born hockey player (NHL or international) of all-time?

Question

Maybe this is an unique question to pose (for the former Soviet Union that is), because after all, we know who the greatest Canadian-born NHL player is (duh), and the greatest American (Chris Chelios? Pat Lafontaine? Mike Modano?), but who is the greatest Russian?

I threw in the qualifier "NHL or international" because some of us hockey fans born after 1980 (such as mysef) didn't get to see greats such as Valeri Kharlamov and Vladislav Tretiak play in their primes.

Answer 1

My nomination is also Pavel Bure, the Russian Rocket. To go a little more in-depth though, here's what he's achieved:

He won the Calder, two Rocket Richards, and has two Olympic medals for ice hockey (bronze and silver). He played in the Russian Super League back in the days of the Soviet Union, which had to be tough. He made 6 All-Star game appearances.

He led the Vancouver Canucks to the playoffs four times. They were only a goal away from beating the Rangers in the Stanley Cup finals once... He had back-to-back 60 goal seasons, his best being a season with 60 goals and 50 assists.

That being said, I think he played his best years for the Canucks, not the Panthers or the Rangers. That's probably because of a serious knee injury he got in the last few years playing for the Canucks...

There was a question asked here about possible Hall of Famer inductees, and I voted that I could definitely see him being inducted into the Hall of Fame one day.

Answer 2

Chris Chelios IMO. 3 Norris Trophies. A few cups. 1000 points as a DMan.....people forget that he used to be a decent offensive force as well as solid defensively. 3 Olympics. Tons of International. Tons of all star games. Captain of the Habs and Hawks once upon a time. People can go on about Lafontaine and Modano et al but Chelios has the best trophy case and the best case to be made as the #1 American born player all time. As LITY mentions, Lafontaine had two 100 point seasons, big whoop, when he was doing that so were 10 or 15 other players per season-the first time he scored 100+ he finished 8th in scoring.......MEANWHILE, Chris Chelios was THE BEST at his position for 3 years of his career. NEVER have any of the U.S forwards been THE BEST at their position for ANY season. To me, there is not much room for debate.

Answer 3

Well i do have to agree with you that Pat Llalalafontaine is the greatest American Born Player i dnt know who the greatest Russian Born Player of All Time is but the Greatest Russian Born Player in the NHL today I would have to say is Maxim Afinogenov this is just imo all you need to do is go look for clips of him on youtube and you will see
There is this one clip on there where he goes right through 2 other players right infront of the net and scores on the goaltender it was Great its title Maxim Afinogenov 360

Answer 4

There are two names that come to mind. From a defensive standpoint, I would go with Slava Fetisov. He was a truly great defensman for the Red Army and in the NHL, the Devils. From a scoring standpoint certainly Pavel Bure is one of the more exciting players I have ever seen. Oh by the way, I would have to put Brian Leetch up there as one the greatest American Players also....

Answer 5

Alexander Ovechkin is pretty good, and has all the tools to one day be the greatest Russian player ever. Right now, I'd have to give that title to Viacheslav Fetisov. Vladislav Tretiak wasn't that great. He never had to stand up to a full 80+ game NHL season, and he wouldn't have.

The greatest American player, I think we now have to say, is Chris Chelios.

The greatest Canadian player, of course, was Gordie Howe. Anybody who says it was Wayne Gretzky ignores that Gretzky couldn't play defense, and that Howe never needed thugs like Mark Messier and Marty McSorley to do his fighting for him. Howe was the best scorer of his era, the best passer, the best defensive forward, and he was his own enforcer. And he played until he was 42. And then came back and was WHA MVP at 45. And was an All-Star at 51. And there's a reason Gretzky wore 99: It's because he wanted Howe's number on his peewee team, but 9 was taken.

Answer 6

It's probably Tretiak or Kharlamov. Tretiak had a great record, but he wasn't terrific in some important international tests. Kharlamov might have been the most dangerous Soviet player in the 1972 series and of that era. Bobby Clarke achieved some level of infamy by taking his stick and breaking his ankle during that series.

Fetisov probably was the Denis Potvin of that era for the Soviets, another great player who lasted forever. Bure was a rocket that burned out too quickly. I thought Mogilny would be in the mix somewhere, but he came up short.

Answer 7

I would make a case for Sergei Federov. He was elected to the NHL All Rookie team in 1991, an All-Star in 1992, 1994, 1196, 2002, and 2003, won the Selke trophy for best defensive forward trophy twice (1994 and 1996), the Hart MVP trophy in 1994, and the Pearson trophy for most outstanding player as voted for by the players (1994). He was the first European-trained player to win the Hart trophy. He was a major contributor to three Stanley Cup championships.

Answer 8

This will be an unpopular choice but I believe that by the time he retires Alexander Ovechkin will have to be considered one of the best Russian players ever.
Of course he isn't even close to being that now and you can easily make the argument for names like Bure, Fedorov, Tretiak, etc.
However, I see him tearing up the league for several years to come and putting himself on that short list.
To hear somebody say that Afinogenov is better than Ovechkin is not surprising with all of the Buffalo homers on here, but that is ridiculous.

Answer 9

everyone forgetting about mr lights out konstantinov ,is the vladinator. ok maybe greatest skillwise but was most feared. in fact he may have been on of most feared nhl'er except didnt get to play as long (between leaveing russia and damn limo driver) lasting only 6 seasons. I dare say that in todays nhl where he could play whole career (assuming he never gets in a limo) he would have gone down as best defensive defenseman ever. Never one to worry about scoreing he just made sure other team didnt, and did in best way he knew how, by makeing them fear being near him with the puck.

Answer 10

Alexander Ovechkin. I mean the only reason people even know the Caps exist (no offense to the Caps) is because of Ovechkin and he sets fire to the arena he plays in when he steps out on the ice! He's crazy! I love Ovechkin, he just needs to go on a better team for him to actually get to the playoffs!