In a feature article for our magazine, we debated who was the greatest Red Wing of all-time. Fan response was tremendous, as you voted Steve Yzerman as being worthy of that description. But as USA Today’s Kevin Allen and our very own editor Mike Caples eloquently stated, Gordie Howe and Nick Lidstrom are greats in their own right. The fact that three generational icons represent Red Wings’ hockey so convincingly speaks to the long-standing tradition of our Original Six franchise.
Of course, omissions occur in any such short-list debate, with worthy candidates left out of the conversation. The list of former Red Wings in the Hall of Fame numbers over 40 alone and swells to over 60 legendary names when including pioneers from the Detroit Cougars and Falcons beginnings. Granted, no one called us out with a “what about Ebbie Goodfellow” challenge, but the process got me thinking about the greats of Red Wings’ lore and their roles in defining the identity of the organization. All of which brought me to Igor Larionov, a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee.
Now, Larionov’s hockey odyssey brought him to Detroit at the beginning of the 1995-96 season, fully 14 seasons after he began playing professionally in what was then the Soviet Union. He fought against that system as a young player, while centering one of the most famous and prolific lines in hockey history, the KLM line of Larionov, Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov. His legacy in his home country was one of prodigious passing and point production and constant battling with Coach Viktor Tikhonov and the Soviet system of player treatment; most notably the practice of keeping the team sequestered away from family at the Red Army training facility/barracks.
Larionov, along with teammate and future Russian Five member here in Detroit, Slava Fetisov, paved the way for the “legal” or “negotiated” exodus of players from Russia. Their rights were sold to the teams that held their NHL rights as a way of funding a failing Sports Bureau in the USSR. The view back home was that these players were past their prime, so let’s get something for the dissenters. In the case of Fetisov and Larionov, the Soviet Federation underestimated the drive of these men. It wasn’t instant success for either player once in North America, but it all came together here in Detroit.
In Larionov’s case, he played three seasons in Vancouver for the Canucks, left for a season in Switzerland, came back to the NHL with the San Jose Sharks for two seasons — and was part of the stunning seven-game upset of the Red Wings in 1994 — before the Sharks traded Larionov to the Red Wings four games into the 1995-96 season. Personally, at the age of 35, it was Larionov’s best season statistically with 21 goals, 50 assists in the 69 games he played for the Red Wings that year. The bigger development was the impact he had on young forwards Sergei Fedorov and Slava Kozlov. Along with defensemen Fetisov and Vladimir Konstantinov, they became know as the Russian Five, playing as a complete unit and instilling a puck-possession game that is still the foundation for Red Wings’ hockey today.
Larionov was part of the 1997, 1998 and 2002 Stanley Cup winning teams, scoring the dramatic triple OT game-winning goal in Game 3 of that 2002 Final. It was a memorable moment at age 41, yet just one of so many winning moments Larionov was a part of. Along with the three Cups in Detroit, Larionov also won gold medals in the Olympics, Canada/World Cup, World Championships and World Junior Championships. He and Fetisov, Joe Sakic and Scott Niedermayer are the only players ever to sport such a resume of winning.
Our boys skate together on the Honeybaked ’98 team and as we idled away some time on pick-up duty after practice one evening we were talking — what else — hockey. He told me the best hockey he was ever a part of was the 1987 Canada Cup when his Soviet side lost a three-game series to Canada 2-1, with all three games ending 6-5 and two decided in OT — one in double OT. Ironic in that with all that winning, the best hockey was in a situation Larionov didn’t prevail. More than anything, it underscores how incredible that ’87 series was.
So, one debate leads to another and while his playing days here might not make him the greatest Red Wing of all-time, I’ll present that Igor Larionov’s career in total is the most incredible of any player who ever donned a winged-wheel jersey.
I look forward to hearing your perspective at MiHockeyNow.com.