The very first Russian-born and trained player to make it to the NHL was Victor Nechayev, whose marriage to an American woman allowed him entry into the USA. He played one season of professional hockey in North America, which included three games for the Los Angeles Kings during the season. He even scored in one of them, starting a legacy the carries on to this day.
Nearly a decade passed before the league started to see a major influx of Russian players, and once the Iron Curtain crumbled, the proverbial floodgates opened.
Sergei Pryakhin was the first Russian allowed exodus, and he promptly joined the Calgary Flames. Alexander Mogilny defected to join the Buffalo Sabres, and is still the only Russian to eclipse the goal mark. More former Soviets would quickly become NHL superstars as well, while the New York Rangers became the first team with Russian players to get their names inscribed on the Stanley Cup.
Since that time, Russians are represented just as much in the NHL as any other nationality, so THW decided to take a look through nearly 40 years of history (yes, we even considered Nechayev) to determine the league&#;s top Russians of all-time.
Here is who we came
20 NHL players from the s you probably forgot about
Andy Lyons/Allsport
Sheppard scored over 20 goals with six different teams. That’s the kind of resume you expect from a player of this ilk. He had a couple great years with the Red Wings, including scoring 30 goals in 43 games during the lockout season. Also, in a very ‘90s way, he played for the Sharks, Panthers, and Hurricanes to round out the decade.
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The s were so high-scoring a few “random” players potted 50 goals in a season. Hell, Dennis Maruk scored 60! In the s, this didn’t happen much, except for Stevens. In one season he had 54 goals and a whopping points. The next year he had 55 goals. In total, though, Stevens had goals and points in his season career. So what happened? In the early s, Stevens played for the Penguins. With Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. He didn’t fully ride their coattails, but the presence of two legends of the game helped.
Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images
The Production Line. The French Connection. The Legion of Doom. In the s, the Philadelphia Flyers had one of the famed nicknam
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