sooo my fav player all-time is Pavel Bure aka the Russian Rocket. many NHLers have skated and scored impressively, of course, but none did it quite like Pavel imho
from his early days as a Red Army phenom (played on a line with Sergei Fedorov & Alexander Mogilny wtf😶) to his electrifying rookie season (91-92 Calder winner) and oh too short a stint with my very own Florida Panthers😻 to his awkward, knee-destroying twilight aside Eric Lindros on Broadway…the Rocket soared for a good min there.
the stickhandling wizardry. and at high speeds too. the practice goals pulled off effortlessly during games. and he had a boomer of a slapshot as attested by several fellow NHLERS.
b2b 60 goal seasons (92-94 in Vancouver, ntm an impressive 58 + 59 99-01 in SoFla. he played there 2 seasons and he's still adored to this day lol jerseys seen at games regularly)
…and remember that weird love triangle stuff with Fedorov & Anna Kournikova? smh aaand the supposed ties to the Russian mafia? chills.
love him or hate him. praise or critique or just admire the skills. what are our thoughts when we look back at the Bure era? haha and I mean just Pavel. no disrespect to Valeri but he was nowhere near as good as his brother lol
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Your second picture was the moment I went from hockey fan to die hard lover of the game. One of my core memories right there.