Igor Larionov takes one last lap around the rink

[Rimmer]

an article I found on IIHF website about one of the greatest european-born players of all time, Igor Larionov. I remember watching him and the soviet teams of the 80's when I was a kid and for me it was the same as it was for kids in North America watching Lemieux, Gretzky, Roy, Lafleur, Orr, Richard and others.


Russian star Igor Larionov takes one last lap around the rink


There is a story that goes like this:

The first time a North American reporter was told about this sensational playmaking kid Larionov from the Soviet Union, the reporter quipped:

"Who" Larry Onov?"

When the oldest player in the NHL retires after this season at the age of 43, there won't be any questions about his name nor his accomplishments. After 27 professional years, Igor Larionov will go down in hockey history as arguably the finest playmaker that the European game has ever produced.

Soviet and Russian coaching legend Viktor Tikhonov was never known for his praising, but when he was once asked to comment on Larionov's passing skills, Tikhonov said: "I am an atheist, but I am ready to acknowledge that Igor Larionov is a divine playmaker."

So exquisite was his "sixth sense" skill that the only comparison that springs to mind is Wayne Gretzky.

"To create the play on which my teammate could score always gave me the most satisfaction", said Larionov when the IIHF interviewed him from his home in New Jersey, the last stop in his amazing pro career which started with Khimik Voskresensk in 1977.

"My instincts have always been to see the ice and see a situation develop three or four moves before it actually happens. I have always liked chess and chess has helped me develop this skill on ice, to think several moves ahead."

An old sports cliché says that a good player is one who makes his teammates better. Very often Larionov made his wingers look like much better players than they really were. He made his NHL debut at the age of 29, but still managed - with his best years behind him - to amass 465 assists, going into this season. He is on pace to finish his NHL career with around 485 assists.

Larionov also dished out approximately another 400 assists in the Soviet years, when official scorers very rarely recorded a second assist.

The Russian veteran says he can remember every big international game he has played in and the score, but he hesitates to call any major victory bigger than the other. "It's difficult to separate great wins from each other", he says.

But:

"I remember when I won my first World Junior Championship in 1979, I will never forget the 1981 Canada Cup final when we beat Team Canada 8-1 at the Montreal Forum and there has probably never been a better three game series than the 1987 Canada Cup final between Team Canada and the
Soviet Union", says Igor. "We lost that series, but hockey was the true winner. That's the way hockey should be played."

Igor Larionov will take "one full year off" when he retires. He will spend quality time with his family and will indulge in some pet projects. Already this coming
March, Igor will release his own wine label 'IL Triple Overtime', a thousand bottles of Australian wine.

"I developed the taste for wine when I spent one season (1992-93) in Lugano in the Swiss league", tells Igor.

Other plans include launching ABBA's Mama Mia musical in Moscow in 2005
and to support his daughters Alyonka, 17, and Diana, 13, in their singing career.

"They are a really good duet and we hope to make a recording in New York," says Igor proudly.

Larionov also reveals for the IIHF News Releasethat he plans to organize his
own farewell game in Moscow sometime in 2004. "It will be a game between my North American teammates from Detroit and New Jersey and a team of Russian players whom I have played with. The game will be played at the Luzhniki Arena."

During his first season without hockey, Igor will contemplate his future
options in the game. He says that he will never go into coaching, not
even if someone offers him to be the head coach of the Russian national
team, but he doesn't exclude other positions.

He knows for sure that he would like to contribute to make the game
better, to bring it back to how it was played during the 1987 Canada Cup
finals.

"We must bring back the attention to puck control, skating and thinking",
says Larionov. "There is so little creativity in the game today. All
emphasis is on playing the trap and it really takes the excitement away
for both players and fans."

"All young players today are asked to 'keep it simple' and after keeping it simple for some years they forget how to play and by then it?s too late to open it up.We must let the kids have fun and encourage them to be creative."

It sounds like head coach Igor Larionov has spoken.

R.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Excellent read. Thanks, Rimmer.

Tikhonov said: "I am an atheist, but I am ready to acknowledge that Igor Larionov is a divine playmaker."

[Skilly]

Good stuff Rimmer.

The most fitting end to his career would be to play on the Russian team for that game and assist on the last goal of the game on a pretty behind the back feed to Makarov, who passes it back to Larionov, and he dishes it cross crease to Krutov.

That KLM line was one of the best ever. If you told me back in 1980 that those three would be playing in the NHl, I would have laughed. Then if you told me that Makarov would win the Calder when he was 29 I would have laughed. Then if you told me that Larionov was go to be still playing at 43 and that Krutov and Makarov would not have half the career he had I would have been dumbfounded. I always thought Makarov was the best on that line ..... but Igor you did yourself and Mother Russia proud.

[Rimmer]

a short recap of Larionov's career:

Born: December 3, 1960 in Voskrosensk, USSR.

- Started his professional career with Khimik Voskresensk in 1977-78.
- Played eight seasons with CSKA Moscow (1981-89)before he left for the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks in 1989.
- Played for six NHL teams and won three Stanley Cups with Detroit 1997, 1998 and 2002.
- Won two Olympic gold medals in 1984 and 1988 and a bronze in Salt Lake City 2002.
- Won four IIHF World Championship gold medals, 1982, 1983, 1986 and 1989.
- Won the 1981 Canada Cup.
- Played in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
- Will have played over 900 NHL games when he retires after this season and his totals will be around 650 points.
- Played 457 games in the Soviet league, totalling 434 points and winning eight national championships.
- One of only twelve players to win Olympic gold, IIHF World Championships and the Stanley Cup.

R.

[blaise]

Skilly said:

Good stuff Rimmer.

The most fitting end to his career would be to play on the Russian team for that game and assist on the last goal of the game on a pretty behind the back feed to Makarov, who passes it back to Larionov, and he dishes it cross crease to Krutov.

That KLM line was one of the best ever. If you told me back in 1980 that those three would be playing in the NHl, I would have laughed. Then if you told me that Makarov would win the Calder when he was 29 I would have laughed. Then if you told me that Larionov was go to be still playing at 43 and that Krutov and Makarov would not have half the career he had I would have been dumbfounded. I always thought Makarov was the best on that line ..... but Igor you did yourself and Mother Russia proud.

I saw the KLM line play in the 1980s in the Montréal Forum against the Canadian all-stars in an exhibition game prior to the Canada Cup tournament. They were not a big line, but how they could pass!