Larionov reitres

[blny]

Igor had a great career. Actually, he had two great careers. One before 1989 with the Red Army team, and one after 1989 in the NHL. Of the three that came over (Igor, Vladimir Krutov, and Sergei Makarov) he was likely the best. That KLM line was one of the most feared lines of all time, and did some amazing things in international play.

Congrats on a great career Igor, and happy retirement. You've earned it.

[Rimmer]

here are some of the best Igor Larionov articles I bookmarked over time:

Larionov came late to the NHL, blocked for years by Soviet bureaucrats before a long and bitter battle was won in 1989 and North American fans finally started getting first-hand glimpses of Larionov's cerebral play. By that time Larionov was already just a few months shy of 29, and had been playing hockey for 11 years in the Soviet system. Another six years would pass before Larionov finally found the freedom he had so long dreamt of, when he was acquired by the Red Wings a little more than a month before he turned 35.

It was a place, Larionov said, "where I finally found my harmony. In my years with the Red Army and national teams I had success, but not much fun. But in Detroit, I found what I was looking for when I came over in 1989 -- good teammates and freedom for what I wanted to do on the ice and off the ice."

--full article--

Larionov has a variety of interests, including wine collecting and chess. He said chess strategy also can be helpful on the ice.

"When you play chess, you have to be able to think three, four, five moves ahead," Larionov said. "Hockey is a fast game, so you need to have one or two different options. Chess helped me big time."

--full article--

Nicknamed "The Professor," Larionov was a student of the game and he didn't suffer fools gladly. So perhaps it should not come as a surprise that he has run afoul of humourless New Jersey Devils' coach Pat Burns.

Burns has a Stanley Cup ring (earned just last spring) but his trap-style apparently isn't impressing Devils' fans, who are staying home in droves, nor does it seem to be going over well with Larionov, who thrived under Scotty Bowman's puck possession system in Detroit.

Things came to a head a week ago when Burns felt Igor wasn't paying attention during a practice.

"I thought I was boring him so I said 'if I'm boring you, then get off the ice'," Burns explained. "He left. I didn't kick him off. He left on his own."

Larionov didn't dispute that explanation and responded: "Never in 27 years have I been told to leave the ice -- and I wasn't told this time. I was thinking it's about time to get on the bike and get a workout."

--full article--

"I left the Soviet Union for one reason: Freedom. The freedom to choose my own path in life," Larionov says. "I believe in being passionate about life. You have to be honest. You have to be yourself."

In the hockey sense, being Larionov means being one of the most gifted centers to play the game, for many years with the Detroit Red Wings. The free agent left the Wings after last season and returns to Detroit for perhaps the last time as a player Thursday. He has 10 assists but no goals entering Tuesday.

Former Detroit coach Scotty Bowman says Larionov is one of the most intelligent players he has coached.

"What separates Igor from other players is his vision on the ice," says Bowman, Larionov's coach during three Stanley Cup-winning seasons in Detroit (1996-97, '97-98, 2001-02). "He sees the ice so clearly. He's always well aware of the situation. He knows when the game is on the line. He knows when to take chances. He's got a sixth sense. Wayne Gretzky had it, too."

In the Russian sense, being Larionov means being one of the most outspoken and courageous athletes to come through the Soviet sports system. Robert Edelman, a Russian history professor at the University of California-San Diego who authored Serious Fun: A History of Spectator Sports in the USSR, says Larionov is "arguably the most politically important athlete in the history of Soviet sport."

"Igor really understood what was going on in the period of perestroika — this opening to the West and the early stages of the process of globalization," Edelman says.

--full article--

good luck to The Professor. I'm sure he'll be as successfull in whatever he decides to do after he retires as he was in the game of hockey. I wish I could be at his farewell game...

R.