I don't think that the majority of Russian players come out of rich families. On the contrary - they come out of working-class families, and all the childhood expenses are covered by their original cub. Kinda gives you a legitimate reason why Russian clubs don't like to give out their prospects to America for a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Russian hockey players are brought up like European soccer players; the best post-USSR soccer player Andriy Shevchenko went to Milan for around 20 million dollars back in 1997. He's one of the best soccer players in the world; well, Russian clubs don't make as many talented soccer players and they make hockey superstars. So they ask for money.. what's the incentive, otherwise, to invest so much in hockey schools?
so that comment goes out of the water. Frankly, I don't want to blame it on kids. If it weren't for the scouts, thanks to whom seven or eight Russians were selected in the first round of 2000 draft, and only one or two of them panned out, maybe we wouldn't raise such high expectations. Look at last draft year - kids like Yemelin and Zubarev, both selected in 3rd and 6th rounds, became great defensemen in the Russian league. This is the way it should be.
Also, I think many people are too quick to judge on certain players. Most of kids like Vasyunov play in lower Russian leagues in cities like Yaroslavl, Magnitogorsk, Omsk.. Thousands of miles away from the judgmental fingers of the majority of posters at HFBoards. One scout says that Vasyunov is a kid with a bad attitude, and the rumour reaches the impressionable mind of a North American draft guru who completely blows it out of proportion. Oh, he doesn't play defense - then he must have a bad attitude. Oh, he scored a goal and.... RAISED HIS HANDS UP HIGH!!!! and started to.... SMILE and LAUGH!!! Oh no. That's so unclassy. He should rather be one of those Soviet robots who showed no emotion. That's more like it.
It's just that when Sidney Crosby celebrates a goal, we say: "aawww, look at him celebrating, take a picture.." When Sidney Crosby plays out a penalty, we say: "great job by Sidney, draws a penalty for his team."
Many Russian players do need some screws reattached, no question about that. But generalizations are always stupid. When an example of a Canadian player being lazy resurfaces (Alexandre Daigle), it's always: "well, Canadians are in the majority. There'll be some who are gonna be outliers." What a no-lose situation in which we can just bash the living lights out of Russian hockey!