The greatest players never to play in the NHL

[ScottM]

I'm going to admit from the start that this isn't a topic I know much about, I'm starting it in large part as a way to get some conversation going so that I can learn more myself. In fact, I had to Google one of the two I'm about to mention just to make sure I got his name right. (And yes, I had to look up the stats too. Lol) I know that there were some great players (notably during the Cold War) that never played here, and I'd like to know more about them.

 

Vladislav Tretiak: Tretiak is one of the best goalies in the history of the game. He's probably best known in the U.S. for being pulled in the Miracle on Ice game (USA! USA!), which is unfortunate since he had such a brilliant career. He was a 3-time Olympic gold medalist, a 10-time world champion, as well as a winner of the 1979 Challenge Cup and 1981 Canada Cup.

 

Jiri Holocek: He's the one I had to Google. I couldn't remember for sure what his last name was. Holocek was a two-time Olympic medalist and a three-time world champion. He was selected as the best goaltender at the World Championships five times. He also won six club championships in the Czechoslovakian league with Sparta Prague.

[jammer2]

@ScottM  It's an inside running joke around here, but Juri Dopita might as well be mentioned, just to get it out of the way....lol. Way back, I believe it was the hockey news to declare Juri "the best player in the world currently not in the NHL."  It was a short lived bust of a career once he got on this side of the big pond....leading many in here to joke about the best player not in the NHL designation.

[ScottM]

@ScottM  It's an inside running joke around here, but Juri Dopita might as well be mentioned, just to get it out of the way....lol. Way back, I believe it was the hockey news to declare Juri "the best player in the world currently not in the NHL."  It was a short lived bust of a career once he got on this side of the big pond....leading many in here to joke about the best player not in the NHL designation.

 

I remember Dopita. Yeah, that didn't go so well. Lol

[JackStraw]

Valera Kharmalov. Back in the '70s there were people who believed that he was the second best player in the world, after Orr.

[jammer2]

Valera Kharmalov. Back in the '70s there were people who believed that he was the second best player in the world, after Orr.

 

 

 

 That is exactly why Clarke pulled this infamous stunt, one of the most vicious intentional slashes in hockey history. I just love the fact he always smiles and tells the truth, that he would indeed do it again.....hilarious. So much like a classic Clarke quote...

 

 

 

 I know you've seen it before, but WOW is that *ever* a sinister wind up by Clarkie....WOW.

[JackStraw]

@jammer2 - yeah, if Clarke doesn't do that I think there's a real chance that the Soviets win that series.

[jammer2]

@jammer2 - yeah, if Clarke doesn't do that I think there's a real chance that the Soviets win that series.

 

 Yep, the Russians were winning the series at that point, and the Canadians were very worried about Khalamov taking over the whole series. I would love to see who gave the actual order to take him out, I have a gut feeling that string was pulled by Alan Eagleson (let the conspiracy grow and multiply....LOL). Khalamov was making our defense, look quite pedestrian, he was beating the very best d-men in the world wide whenever he pleased....he was scary good.

[JackStraw]

@jammer2 - I thought John Ferguson claimed to have given Clarke the order.

[jammer2]

@jammer2 - I thought John Ferguson claimed to have given Clarke the order.

 

Ahhh, did not know that, sounds like something Johnny would do!

[ScottM]

The amount of respect they had for Kharlamov is certainly impressive. After he was mentioned, I remembered having heard his name, but I didn't know anything about him. I did a bit after reading the first post, but I'm going to be doing some more.

[Podein25]

@jammer2 - I thought John Ferguson claimed to have given Clarke the order.

Ferguson didn't really give Clarke the order, or give him the proverbial tap, although this is widely believed to be the case. It was more a case of him saying: "Kharlamov is killing us, *somebody* has to do something about him"

Being Bobby Clarke, and being from Flin Flon, he naturally thought Fergie was speaking to him (which he probably was).

There is a difference, albeit a small one. Still.

[flyercanuck]

 That is exactly why Clarke pulled this infamous stunt, one of the most vicious intentional slashes in hockey history. I just love the fact he always smiles and tells the truth, that he would indeed do it again.....hilarious. So much like a classic Clarke quote...

 

 

 

 I know you've seen it before, but WOW is that *ever* a sinister wind up by Clarkie....WOW.

 

 

 Love tap.

[flyercanuck]

Ferguson didn't really give Clarke the order, or give him the proverbial tap, although this is widely believed to be the case. It was more a case of him saying: "Kharlamov is killing us, *somebody* has to do something about him"

Being Bobby Clarke, and being from Flin Flon, he naturally thought Fergie was speaking to him (which he probably was).

There is a difference, albeit a small one. Still.

 

 That's how it happened as far as I've always heard it.

[yave1964]

Boris Petrovich Mikhailov is the first and last as far as I am concerned, with apologies to Tretiak who was a whale of a goalie but Mikhailov was more or less the heart and soul of the USSR great clubs of that era. Tretiak, as a goalie was easier to recognize, but Mikhailov was the Toews, the intense leader and ridiculously talented star of the team.

Hobey Baker? Kind of a quirky mention, he was okay, a multi sport star who left to go get killed in France during WW1 which gained him a thimbleful of immortality. Personally, I doubt his career would have continued had someone not decided to kill an Arch Duke in Austria, but his name is still mentioned today as 'one of the greatest to never play in the NHL' every time he gets mentioned, though personaly I think it is more of a Pavolvian response than anything.

Bill Cleary and Mike Euruzione always seem to get mentioned in these conversations, leaders of the USA Olympic Gold clubs a generation apart, both IMHO did well to call it a career when they did, neither would have amounted to much but like Baker both were great amateurs....

Sooooo many Soviet Block players who never got the chance. A damn shame really, no matter what that damn fool Don Cherry might think of Europeans. Maltsev, Firsov come to mind. Of course I never saw them play but having read of their playing abilities, they would have been first ballot HOFers had they gotten the oppurtunities.

[JackStraw]

This is the story that I've heard in the past:

 

Years later, assistant coach John Ferguson admitted: “I called Clarke over to the bench, looked over at Kharlamov and said: ‘I think he needs a tap on the ankle.’ I didn’t think twice about it. It was Us vs. Them. And Kharlamov was killing us. I mean, somebody had to do it, and I sure wasn’t going to ask Henderson.”

 

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Summit+Series+40th+anniversary+Clarke+Game+slash+Kharlamov+turning+point+Team+Canada/7287054/story.html

 

Personally, I like the dig at Henderson.

[jammer2]

@JackStraw  Ha, never in the history of hockey has a man made more mileage off of one particular goal than Henderson did in that Summit series.

[Podein25]

That's how it happened as far as I've always heard it.

Yeah that comes from Bob himself. I think it is closer to the truth because that's more how it works in hockey and Fergie knows it. You're standing within earshot of Clarke and Henderson, who do you think is going to hear it loud and clear?

Certainly not Paul Henderson.

[Podein25]

...Personally, I like the dig at Henderson.

Me too. Born again prosletyzing whore (NTTAWWT)

[JackStraw]

Yeah that comes from Bob himself. I think it is closer to the truth because that's more how it works in hockey and Fergie knows it. You're standing within earshot of Clarke and Henderson, who do you think is going to hear it loud and clear?

Certainly not Paul Henderson.

 

Such sneakiness... such subtlety!

[Podein25]

Such sneakiness... such subtlety!

LMAO

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Interesting thread.

 

I am afraid I don't have much at all to contribute to this thread, however, I can always learn as well from you guys.

 

Also, I will say that there are probably many good to great players over in the European leagues even today, who may never see the light of day in the NHL, due to that player simply preferring to stay at home (in whatever country he is from), or NHL scouts somehow having a player like that 'fall through the cracks'.

 

In this day and age with tech and the internet, it is probably harder for a scout to 'miss' a player (I could easily see that happening before the information age), but it can and probably does still happen.

[jammer2]

@TropicalFruitGirl26  Just on the cusp of the information age, you had true superstars like Federov escape the press and people barely knew who Sergei was before he came over...actually smuggled out of Russia...lol.

[ScottM]

@TropicalFruitGirl26  Just on the cusp of the information age, you had true superstars like Federov escape the press and people barely knew who Sergei was before he came over...actually smuggled out of Russia...lol.

 

Didn't the Soviet government issue the death penalty for him over his defection?

[jammer2]

@ScottM  I didn't hear anything about the death penalty, but I did hear *underworld* sources (probably gov't related) had threatened his family.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@TropicalFruitGirl26  Just on the cusp of the information age, you had true superstars like Federov escape the press and people barely knew who Sergei was before he came over...actually smuggled out of Russia...lol.

 

And you know, opinions on Federov vary, but whatever people may think of him, the NHL would have truly missed out on a heck of a performer had he not competed in the NHL and help the Wings rise to dynasty status.

 

As for the death penalty thing...I wouldn't know without doing some investigating, but it wouldn't have surprised me if that was the case.

The Soviets didn't take too kindly to citizens leaving their ranks......throw in a guy like Federov, whom I believe was a big part of their Red Army team (I could be wrong on that), and you have a double black eye for their government, not only in terms of losing a good player to the North American NHL, but the message it sends that anyone CAN defy the Soviet government and live to tell about it.

 

I, for one, am just glad players from anywhere in the world, hockey or otherwise, are free to go where they like....although, in baseball, Cuban defectors still face similar trials and tribulations when deciding they want to leave their native country.