How good was Kharlamov?

[Big Phil]

Interestingly enough, and it goes to show you how far we have come - or fallen - as a society. But in Game 2 of the 1972 series in Toronto during the pregame introductions the Soviet players all got cheered. When Kharlamov was introduced he got a noticeably bigger cheer. I always thought that was interesting, here was a team threatening our hockey superiority and the Canadian fans could see how good he was and he had their respect.

 

[ESH]

Ovechkin scores almost all his goals on 1 timers from the circle from other guys setting him up and got so many he is considered one of the greatest scorers ever which is without a doubt correct.However he never scored goals though the way Kharlamov did though ,two totally different types of players

Ovechkin has scored tons of goals in his career using his top-notch acceleration/speed and stickhandling.

 

[VMBM]

The first time in a long time, I watched some old Soviet hockey games, like from the 1972 and 1974 Summit Series, and 1975-76 Super Series, and HOT DIGGITY. It even surprised me how clearly Kharlamov was the best Russian player on the ice. Sure there are some exceptions (games), but generally it's a no contest. Kharlamov really was that good until 1976, and I'd say even distinctly better than his linemates, for example. Post 1976, Petrov and especially Mikhailov proved that they were great players in their own right, but neither was never as good as Kharlamov was at his peak, I don't care what some statistics say.