Steve Yzerman And His Russian Connection

It should come as no surprise to most hockey aficionados that on the current Tampa Bay Lightning team that he has assembled, Steve Yzerman has several Russian born players.

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On the current Tampa roster are Nikita Kucherov, Evgeni Nabokov and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Three of the 23 players on the roster were players who were born in Russia. Add Nikita Nesterov and Vladislav Namestnikov who are currently playing for the AHL affiliate in Syracuse and you can see that Steve Yzerman, at the very least has some faith in Russian hockey players.

Not only does Yzerman seem to like Russian born players, he also drafts players who have come up in the Russian Junior leagues. Players such as: Kristers Gudlevskis, Nikita Gusev and the aforementioned Vasilevskiy.

I am writing this article because recently, I have heard some very disparaging remarks about Evgeni Nabokov as our backup goalie. There are many, and you know who you are, in Bolts Nation that are calling for his release.

Let me say that I am not one of them. I have been coming to Nabby’s rescue whenever and wherever I can. You see, most games that he starts come on the back end of a back to back. The team, as most NHL teams are in the second game in as many nights, are dog tired. The Lightning are no exception. Unfortunately, for Nabokov, he is the person getting the blame for these losses. But the fact is that during the current slump and before Bishop was injured, Nabokov was out playing Bishop between the pipes. It is unfair to lay the slump solely on Evgeni Nabokov.

Now, I’ll give you another reason why Nabokov is with the Lightning organization. To understand, you don’t have to go any further than Steve Yzerman’s playing career in Detroit. You see, the Detroit Red Wings were one of the first NHL teams to sign a Russian born player when they signed Igor Larionov in 1989. At that time, Steve Yzerman was already a seven year NHL veteran and captain of the Detroit Red Wings.

After Larionov, the Red Wings went on to sign a few Russian players including Vyacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Federov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov. While there is no doubt that the resurgence Detroit enjoyed in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s had a lot to do with Yzerman, there should be little argument that the addition of these Russian born players helped immensely.

When the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997, for the first time in 42 years, they had five Russian born players on their roster. In fact, Yzerman once said of Federov, that he was the best skater he had ever seen. High praise from a man who has seen his share of world class hockey players over the last 40 years.

Steve Yzerman learned many things during his playing career and brief time in the front office of the Detroit Red Wings. One of those things was to acknowledge and respect the skills of European and Russian hockey players. It is clear that Yzerman learned this lesson well and now the Tampa Bay Lightning are better for that lesson learned.

After seeing a glimpse of the future with Andrei Vasilevskiy in net after being called up when Ben Bishop was hurt last week in Pittsburgh, I see the brilliance of the Yzer-Plan. I have read glowing reports on the future of Vasilevskiy and realize that Steve Yzerman is a brilliant leader. Signing Evgeni Nabokov was part of this move. Who better to mentor a 20 year old Russian goaltender than a guy like Nabokov.

Yzerman had to know that having Nabokov in the organization to help with the development of not only Vasilevskiy but also Latvian Kristers Gudlevskis was critical. Just another stroke of Yzer-genius. I bet it helped ease whatever butterflies Vasilevskiy has had making his NHL debut.

There is an old Russian proverb that goes like this: Artelnyi gorshok gusche kipit. Translated it means: With a helper, a thousand things are possible.

I think this is also a lesson Steve Yzerman learned and the Tampa Bay Lightning are better off as a result.

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