Igor Larionov

[Eye of Ra]

I was too young to ever watch him play.

Where does he rank among Red Wingers all time?

What do you guys remember of him?

How would you guys describe his playing style?

Was he a physical player?

Would he have a impact in todays NHL if he was in his prime?

Click to read more...

 

[jkutswings]

He was acquired in a bit of a nothing trade with Florida, and was never among the strongest or fastest players. But he was known as The Professor - and for good reason - for having a fantastic hockey IQ, and he had excellent vision to go with his good passing skills.

Due to the nature of his game, there were times that he passed up a great scoring chance, to set up a teammate, which could sometimes be frustrating. But when at his best, he and the rest of The Russian Five were a thing of beauty to see. The term puck possession doesn't do justice to what those guys could do, with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

I still remember his triple overtime goal against Carolina in the 2002 Finals. My dad, my brother, and I stayed up for the whole thing, getting more anxious and closer to the edge of the couch with each shift. Haha, it was like 2am when he scored, and we all shouted like we won the game ourselves. Scared the cat to no end. Here's the YouTube of it:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...BfQQyCkIJzAA&usg=AOvVaw151ygN4gcMnafzO-Q-Co7q

 

[jkutswings]

Also, it was actually an altercation between Larionov and Forsberg that started the legendary Wings/Avs brawl in 1997.

 

[izlez]

HBut he was known as The Professor - and for good reason - for having a fantastic hockey IQ, and he had excellent vision to go with his good passing skills.

My absolute favorite hockey player of all time, and this is why.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

He was acquired in a bit of a nothing trade with Florida, and was never among the strongest or fastest players. But he was known as The Professor - and for good reason - for having a fantastic hockey IQ, and he had excellent vision to go with his good passing skills.

Due to the nature of his game, there were times that he passed up a great scoring chance, to set up a teammate, which could sometimes be frustrating. But when at his best, he and the rest of The Russian Five were a thing of beauty to see. The term puck possession doesn't do justice to what those guys could do, with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

I still remember his triple overtime goal against Carolina in the 2002 Finals. My dad, my brother, and I stayed up for the whole thing, getting more anxious and closer to the edge of the couch with each shift. Haha, it was like 2am when he scored, and we all shouted like we won the game ourselves. Scared the cat to no end. Here's the YouTube of it:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=84lZw2pkz7U&ved=0ahUKEwj1xdXThpvYAhUj94MKHQ3nBfQQyCkIJzAA&usg=AOvVaw151ygN4gcMnafzO-Q-Co7q

I thought it was around 1:14 when he finally scored the game winner? Watched with my dad and was one of my favorite memories with him sports-wise.

 

[Beltv]

My dads favorite player ever. It's a shame that he couldn't have came over here earlier in his career to play. He was also the center on the famous KLM line. In terms of playmaking he has to be up there on the list and I think it would be a bit higher had he been allowed to come over here sooner.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

I was too young to ever watch him play.

Where does he rank among Red Wingers all time?

What do you guys remember of him?

How would you guys describe his playing style?

Was he a physical player?

Would he have a impact in todays NHL if he was in his prime?

1) Not very high... but that's not a slight on him. The Red Wings just simply have so many fantastic players. He would pretty easily not be top ten in the organization's history. The Wings also only caught like 30+ year old Larionov.

2) Remember? He could ALWAYS make the pass from anywhere on the ice directly onto a guy's stick. He was the conductor of the most gorgeous hockey that I've ever seen played (the Russian Five). I mean, they looked like they were just playing around until they decided to score.

3) Joe Thornton is basically Canadian Igor Larionov. Igor certainly could shoot and score, but his bread and butter was beautiful tape to tape passes, sauces or otherwise.

4) He was not a physical player. He also was not soft. Basically, he did the same as Datsyuk. Guys would bear down on him thinking they could intimidate him and he'd either absorb the hit and just play or like the Forsberg stuff give some back.

5) He certainly would. Guys who can deal out dimes like prime John Stockton would dominate in the current NHL with its focus on speed and fluid play. If he were a Red Wings center in his prime right now, it wouldn't hurt nearly as bad that our defense is a bunch of ineffectual, soft penis'd debutantes. He'd do what Larkin is doing in a different way, but do it better.

 

[Ulysses31]

datsyuk-esqe but slower.. really slow dekes like he was in the matrix that were fun to watch and some nice passes

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

He was acquired in a bit of a nothing trade with Florida, and was never among the strongest or fastest players. But he was known as The Professor - and for good reason - for having a fantastic hockey IQ, and he had excellent vision to go with his good passing skills.

Due to the nature of his game, there were times that he passed up a great scoring chance, to set up a teammate, which could sometimes be frustrating. But when at his best, he and the rest of The Russian Five were a thing of beauty to see. The term puck possession doesn't do justice to what those guys could do, with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

I still remember his triple overtime goal against Carolina in the 2002 Finals. My dad, my brother, and I stayed up for the whole thing, getting more anxious and closer to the edge of the couch with each shift. Haha, it was like 2am when he scored, and we all shouted like we won the game ourselves. Scared the cat to no end. Here's the YouTube of it:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=84lZw2pkz7U&ved=0ahUKEwj1xdXThpvYAhUj94MKHQ3nBfQQyCkIJzAA&usg=AOvVaw151ygN4gcMnafzO-Q-Co7q

That's actually not correct.

He was originally acquired in 1995 in a trade with the Sharks involving Ray Sheppard (sniper who had 36, 32, 52, and 30 goals in the years prior to the trade).

Then, they actually let him go in 2000 to Florida and realized quickly that it was a mistake and sent Yan Golubovsky to Florida for him.

So, the initial trade to get him was anything but a nothing trade. Imagine dealing a guy with four consecutive 30 goal seasons with a 52 in there now. Wings GMs used to swing for the fences on moves (mostly because they knew they could backfill with dollars if the trade went south.

 

[lomekian]

To the OP: do yourself a kindness and get on you-tube. Watch some of the documentaries about the red army team. Catch up on clips of the Russian 5 in Detroit. Even now it's still truly astonishing to watch. And despite the brilliance of the others, especially Sergei, the professor was so often the conductor.

He was kind of like the Russian hockey style version of Gretzky but not quite as good. Not that big, not that strong, not that quick, not that flashy, not a huge shot, but all facets were slightly better than they appeared at first glance and he was just smarter then almost everyone else.

That said, he's not that high on the wings rankings. We got him past his peak on a team so stacked that he was usually 3rd line center. He was never a truly core guy for us despite improving whoever he played with.

The simple fact is, a wings fan from the early 90s til Pav went Back to Russia just had the pleasure of so many brilliant players and so many who played so many years in Detroit, that Igor becomes more of a beautiful chapter then a book, or perhaps in the grand scheme of the red wings a footnote that is longer and more important than you'd expect

 

[Konnan511]

To really understand how smart Igor was, remember that he joined the NHL at 29 and still nearly got to 1,000 games.

 

[Henkka]

Larionov was like Datsyuk without those "Magic" moves. Two-way playmaker, who almost always does the right decision with or without the puck. Sovjet system product.

Nice to after these years, how Sovjets were 30-40 years before their time on 70-80s.

 

[Dotter]

Igor Larionov? He was the professor. He was so much fun to watch, especially with the Russian 5. While Bowman was a brilliant head coach, guys like Larinonov, Lidstrom, Yzerman, Draper... and etc made his job a breeze. No team will ever rival what the Red Wings were back in the late 90s.

 

[bellringer77]

Very good playmaker. This got me thinking how lucky us Detroit fans are too have so many great players in our history. I don't really remember much of watching him because of my age but I loved him and my father was very high on him

 

[avssuc]

I still remember his triple overtime goal against Carolina in the 2002 Finals. My dad, my brother, and I stayed up for the whole thing, getting more anxious and closer to the edge of the couch with each shift. Haha, it was like 2am when he scored, and we all shouted like we won the game ourselves. Scared the cat to no end. Here's the YouTube of it:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=84lZw2pkz7U&ved=0ahUKEwj1xdXThpvYAhUj94MKHQ3nBfQQyCkIJzAA&usg=AOvVaw151ygN4gcMnafzO-Q-Co7q

I thought it was around 1:14 when he finally scored the game winner? Watched with my dad and was one of my favorite memories with him sports-wise.

I was going to say the same thing. I had just gotten BAH and was living off base for the first time in my military career. Needless to say, I was doing some drinking that night. I decided that I wouldn't stop drinking until the game ended.

I think Igor saved me from alcohol poisoning.