Honoring Igor

Most hockey fans probably don't think of Igor Larionov as a San Jose Shark, but I do. Larionov, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday, had more NHL success elsewhere--he won three Stanley Cups as a Detroit Red Wing--and much of his prime was spent playing for Central Red Army and the Soviet national team, in the service of which he won big huge bunches of medals, most of them gold.

However, Larionov was a crucial player on the 1993-94 edition of the San Jose Sharks--the team that made me a fan. Between him and Sergei Makarov, the Sharks boasted two-thirds of the famous Soviet "KLM Line", a fact that seemed to be only a hockey curiosity until San Jose started winning games and commenced a charge that landed them in the playoffs. As you can see from a glance at the season stats, the two Russians were team leaders--Makarov was the Sharks' first ever 30-goal scorer, and Larionov averaged almost a point a game over the sixty in which he played (and finished +20). Larionov also had 5 goals and 13 assists in San Jose's fourteen playoff games that year, which included, of course, the stunning upset over the Wings.

I've always regarded Igor Larionov as the consummate center--a through-the-roof hockey I.Q., strong defensively, and an exceptional passer, almost to a fault (an insane 25% of his shots found the net in the 93-94 season, suggesting that he probably should've shot more). For any fans of baseball out there, I've always thought of him as being a bit like Greg Maddux--never physically imposing or overwhelming, but possessed of such command of his craft that he was one of the most dominant players of his generation. (Plus, like Maddux, Larionov begs to be compared to a mild-mannered literature professor when out of uniform).

But Larionov's greatest accomplishments were off the ice. Along with Slava Fetisov, Larionov was a leader in the rebellion against the draconian Soviet coach, Viktor Tikhonov, which eventually resulted in Russian players being able to play in the NHL. This was back in the late '80s, when NATO and Warsaw Pact tanks were still staring at each other across the Fulda Gap and the guards on the Berlin Wall had shoot-to-kill orders. You can read a bit about it here. Kinda makes the temper-tantrums thrown by today's pro athletes seem a thousand times more ridiculous than they already are, doesn't it?

I was delighted to see Larionov elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. A very hearty congratulations to you, Igor...a well-deserved honor for a brilliant career.