The Greats of Russia

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

Today we kick off a new series I’ve started called ‘The Greats of…’ where we will be looking at the top players of each position (active or retired) from different countries. Today we’re going to look at Russia. While they don’t have many superstars the few they have are incredible names that have been cornerstones for their franchises.

 

LW - Maxim Kovalchuk @Banackock 1247 TPE
Starting off with the LW position we have Maxim Kovalchuk who played from S62-69 (nice). Kovalchuk played in 576 (all but 72 were with Seattle) in his career and recorded 196 goals along with 413 assists for 609 points. His career high was actually his rookie season when he had 30 goals, 87 assists for 117 points in 72 GP. Pressure was no problem for him either as he was a point-per-game in the playoffs recording 23 goals, 45 assists for 68 points in 67 games played. Kovalchuk won 5 individual trophies, Back-To-Back Continental Cups and even a Founders Cup. It’s safe to say that he is the Best Russian born player to ever play in the VHL.

 

C - Sergei Komarov @Gooningitup 862 TPE 

Next at Center we have Sergei Komarov who played from S57-63 and in that span had 215 goals, 298 assists for 513 points in 504 games played. He may not have been the highest in the league in terms of TPE, he was however just above a point per game in his career which is an amazing feat on its own. His best season was S60 with the NYA recording 45 goals and 58 assists for 103 points. His playoff performance was pretty solid as well putting up 20 goals and 30 assists in 64 games. In his time in the VHLM he won the trophy for best two-way forward along with being the leader goal scorer and to top it off he even won the Founders Cup all in the same season.

 

RW - Alexsei Federov @Banackock 1030 TPE
To finish off the greatest Russian forwards we have Alexsei Federov on the RW. Federov played from S54-61, in which all but his final season were with Seattle. In 576 GP he put up 203 goals and 404 assists for 607 points. In the final year of his career with Helsinki he recorded 51 goals and 59 assists for 110 points. Although he didn’t win any individual trophies he did win a Founders Cup in S52 and a Continental Cup in S59.

 

D - Vladimir Pavlov @Victor 1202 TPE
Now that the forwards are taken care of we move onto one of the greatest defenders of all time who is currently ranked 7th in active Defenseman for TPE, Vladimir Pavlov. Pavlov just finished his 6th season with Moscow and has recorded 328 points in 432 games played so far in his career and has an astounding 942 hits. At the time of this article he’s also had 6 goals and 24 assists for 30 points in 54 playoff games. Pavlov hasn’t won any individual awards so far, but has won a Founders Cup in S65 and a Continental Cup in S70. 

 

D - Evgeni Komarov @Gooningitup 495 TPE
Finishing off the Defensive pairing we have Evgeni Komarov. Komarov had a shortened career only playing in 4 seasons from S65-68 with a relatively new Moscow, but in that time he put up 20 goals and 74 assists for 94 points in 288 games played. While he wasn’t known for his offense he did have 896 hits as well as 504 shots blocked. He didn’t win any individual trophies or cups but had his career gone on a little longer I believe he would be regarded as one of the better shutdown defenders in the league.

G - Ilya Kopralkov (Unknown) 339 TPA

Last but not least we come to the Goaltenders, who I decided to go with Ilya Kopralkov. Kopralkov may not have been the best goalie on paper but he put up some pretty solid numbers throughout his career. In 387 games played he had a 189-169-23 record, along with a career .913SV%, 2.60GAA and 41SO. After winning his first Continental Cup as a backup for Riga, he went to New York in S52 which was a spectacular year for Kopralkov. In the regular season he had a 47-15-1 record in the regular season along with an impressive 17 shutouts. He continued his success right through the playoffs to put up a 12-3-2 record with a .927SV%, 1.91GAA, 3 shutouts and record just over 1,000 minutes played on the road to his second and final Continental Cup of his career.
 

Honourable Mentions:

RW - Bogdan Podarok (Unknown) 1070 TPA
This was a toss-up between Alexsei Federov and Bogdan Podarok. While Podarok could arguably be the better player and won 4 individual trophies in a single season in the VHLM, I opted to go with Alexsei Federov since he had a longer career and put up more points than Podarok. One could argue that his points-per-game was higher but i still felt the shortened career hurt him in terms of being considered the greatest Russian born RW of all time.

G - Dmitri Dadonov (Unknown) 490 TPA
Through the short career Dadonov had, they went 135-172-26. That’s not a great record but they did have a career .925SV% along with a 2.68GAA which are pretty solid numbers for someone with a losing record and playing just over 20,000 minutes. He unfortunately didn’t get much playoff experience since he spent his career on bad teams but did post a 5-2-3 record in the 10 games he did play. While he didn’t win any cups or individual trophies, he did have a great career overall which i felt was worth mentioning.



That concludes this week's edition of ‘The Greats of Russia’ make sure you tune back in next time to see which players made the cut to be considered one of the greatest players in each nation’s history. Do you agree with me on my choices or do you feel anyone was snuffed? Let me know in the comments below and we’ll see you next time!

1023 words

[Banackock 7,638]

Kovalchuk and Federov both were dmen too.  
 

Good stuff. LONG LIVE MOTHER RUSSIA. 

[Victor 10,534]

Good list for the portal era, maybe not quite all time.

[Beketov 8,642]

Alexander Beketov, first ballot HoFer and the namesake of the assist award, would like a word.

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

19 hours ago, Beketov said:

Alexander Beketov, first ballot HoFer and the namesake of the assist award, would like a word.

I was just going off the portal, I'll have to look into that further

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

Claiming part 2 week end July 12

[BOOM 8,408]

No mention of Boomchenko. I'm (not really) devastated. 

 

Good read.