Kravchuk’s finest campaign was 1992-93 with the Oilers when he went 12-38-50 – all career highs – in 81 games. He has three Stanley Cup rings, a Hart Memorial Trophy, a Calder Trophy, a Conn Smythe, and a Ted Lindsay in addition to his two Art Ross wins. During his two seasons for the Blue Jackets, he scored at better than a point-per-game pace. The Greatest Draft in Edmonton Oilers History: 1979 or 1980? Now with the Panthers, he begins the next chapter in what could be a Hockey Hall of Fame career. (Chicago, Edmonton, St. Louis, Ottawa, Calgary, Florida)eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'thehockeywriters_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_3',666,'0','0'])); Kravchuk was solid defensively, and possessed an offensive touch as well.
In 990 games, he generated 572 points (119G, 453A) from the back end. Of course, the Detroit Red Wings famous Russian Five - Sergei Federov, Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Festiov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, and Vladimir Konstantinov - is included. However, probably due to misunderstandings ("hockey" was identified with bandy or Russian hockey in Russia, not with the modern ice hockey rules developed in Canada) the Russian team left the organization. eval(ez_write_tag([[468,60],'thehockeywriters_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',662,'0','0'])); Sergei Pryakhin was the first Russian allowed exodus, and he promptly joined the Calgary Flames. THW takes a look through nearly 40 years of history (yes, we even considered Nechayev) to determine the league’s Top-50 Russians of all-time.
In nine of his 11 NHL seasons, Semin reached double digits. (Quebec, Colorado, New York Rangers, St. Louis). There were no matches involving a team from Imperial Russia. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'thehockeywriters_com-box-3','ezslot_10',652,'0','0'])); Nicknamed “Archie” for his red hair and resemblance to the comic character, Zhamnov was an exceptionally talented center who was strong both ways. On Feb. 20, 2007, he became the eighth defenseman from outside of North America to play 1,000 regular season games. Make no mistake though, Makarov was a topnotch NHLer as well. Too many people recall Bryzgalov as being more of an oddity, that they forget he was also a talented goaltender. When Bure tallied a career-high 35 goals in 1999-00 for the Flames, he and his older brother set the NHL record (93) for most goals in a season by a pair of siblings.
Korolev’s life was cut short by the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash. He would join the Nordiques in 1990-91, and remained with the franchise on into the 2000-01 season. Khabibulin was the first Russian goaltender to win the Stanley Cup when he did so with the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning. A superb shot-blocker, Yushkevich developed a reputation as being a fearless battler throughout his entire career. In his younger years, Fetisov was widely considered the best defenseman in the world. It is very hard to find a finer goaltender – Russian or otherwise – than Sergei Bobrovsky. Eight times he reached at least 30 goals in a season, including 76 in 1992-93. Contract disputes certainly did not help either, but Yashin scored at least 30 goals in half of his dozen NHL campaigns. He has scored at least 33 goals for the Blues for five seasons straight. Kamensky was another key component for the Avalanche during their rivalry years with the Red Wings, and one of the team’s premier scorers. He won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in only his sophomore NHL season. As much as Yashin was criticized during his career for what was felt to be a failure to show up in the playoffs, he was still a very talented hockey player. Gonchar earned a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009, and finished his career with 811 points (220G, 591A) in 1,301 games. Kozlov was selected 6th overall in 1993 by the Sharks, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. Kovalev is widely recognized one of the most gifted individual players to appear in the league. Still, his god-given talent cannot be ignored. Like Karpovtsev and two other Russians who made our list, Nemchinov was one of the first from his country to win the Stanley Cup when the Rangers did so in 1994. (Anaheim, Phoenix/Arizona, Philadelphia, Edmonton, Minnesota). After potting 22 goals for the Bruins in 1997-98, Samsonov was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Year.