TheDevilMadeMe
Registered User
I don't have issue with Makarov being generally the best forward after Gretzky for most of the 80s, though being the best forward in a given decade doesn't mean that the player is above Beliveau. I'm commenting on the quality of the Soviet league of the 80s and I do want to have an idea of who the fifth or so best forward was in that league, given that Soviet scoring titles seem to be the crux of the argument here. Makarov isn't any better or worse if his league is great or is terrible but it does provide some relevant information when it comes to how to value his scoring titles. If he's playing with the other two best forwards in the league and with the two best defencemen constantly while every other competitor is playing with far worse players or on his own team in less advantageous positions, and those competitors aren't even historically noteworthy, then that takes a fair bit of the shine away. I buy Makarov as the best Soviet forward ever and probably the best Soviet player ever but I do have questions about who he was competing against in domestic competition.
For most of the 1980s, the Soviet league was set up so that Tikhonov could poach any player he wanted from any other team in the league, and add them to CSKA. I'm not sure when this practice started, but it was not in place for most of the 1970s. I know this is how Balderis ended up on CSKA after starring for Riga.
The point of this practice was to get the Soviet players extra prepared for international tournaments, which were considered more important than the domestic league. But there's a good case that it shares some of the blame for the decline in the depth of Soviet talent that was noted in the late 1980s, even before the fall of the USSR.
So while CSKA in the 1970s resembled a dynasty-level team, CSKA in the 1980s was beyond that.
Relevant to your point? The top players in the league were likely all playing for CSKA for the majority of Makarov's career. No Maltsev-level guy playing for a rival like in the 1970s.