As happens a lot with Russian players (Fedorov, Kovalev), he had that media-fed mystique about him and how good he 'could' be, if he just put it altogether. Like those other cases, the media of the day sometimes overrated his actual talent (he did not have Norris-calibre skills, no matter what) but he was still a pretty good defenseman.
As was mentioned, he was big, strong, great skater, and had a great point shot. One of those defenseman who had all the tools, was serviceable, but seemed like he could be a little better than he was.
I also recall a controversy in Montreal once when he was photographed skiing when he was on injured reserve.
I think that may have been what precipitated the trade to New Jersey.
Actually, looking at his history on hockeyreference.com, he was involved in a few interesting trades:
Traded to Montreal by NY Islanders with Pierre Turgeon for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby, April 5, 1995- Obviously a big trade with big names going both ways.
Traded to New Jersey by Montreal for Sheldon Souray, Josh DeWolf and New Jersey's 2nd round choice- Brought Sheldon Souray to Montreal
Traded to Philadelphia by NY Rangers for Rick Kozak and Philadelphia's 2nd round choice (later traded to Atlanta - Atlanta selected
Ondrej Pavelec)
Traded to San Jose by New Jersey with New Jersey's 1st round choice (later traded to St. Louis - St. Louis selected
David Perron) in 2007 Entry Draft for Alexander Korolyuk and Jim Fahey