Not a lot of people know this but he chose the #17 because that was the limit as to how many hot dogs he’d allow himself to have in a day during the hockey season.
All bets were off in the off season though.
Nice picture!
**Vladimir Krutov**
*Krutov was one of the finest players of his generation, part of the famed KLM line with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, and won two World Junior Championship gold medals, the 1981 Canada Cup, two Olympic gold medals, and six World Championship gold medals playing for the Soviet Union. When he made the jump to the NHL with Igor Larionov to play for the Vancouver Canucks, fans were thrilled to have two of the top Soviet players in the world on the team. But while The Professor managed to adapt to North American customs and NHL hockey, The Tank showed up to training camp looking much like his moniker. Krutov was out-of-shape and overweight and quickly developed a love for junk food. Bob McCammon, the coach of the Canucks at the time, noted “His usual routine was to stop at a 7-11 store and order two hot dogs, a bag of potato chips, and a soft drink. After practice, he would return for a second order.”*
*Krutov was just 29, ostensibly in the prime of his career, but he only managed 34 points for the Canucks, was frequently benched, and ended up cut from the team the following year.*
– PITB
Krutes! They swung for the fences but Larionov was our prize of these two. Krutes just couldn’t adapt.
It’s too bad he didn’t pan out; the KLM line was pretty dominant prior to coming over.
VLAD THE INHALER!
His last name should have been Chub-erov
RIP
Big deal, but it probably won’t be on TV.
I was so excited when we landed these two. Haha.
Literally thought that was John Candy for a second
Oooph! Looks like Kesler got reaaaalllllllly fat and bloated after retirement
The big thing about him was that his body was wrecked from the constant training for a decade under Tikhonov. As soon as there was a taste of freedom it wasn’t compatible with the structure that is needed for being a professional athlete. Plus if memory serves the Canucks didn’t really invest in treating the Russian players very well with simple things like translators. It was such a wasted opportunity that really could have propelled the Canucks into being a great team in the mid 90s.
First game in Van, Krutov does this beautiful 8-foot saucer pass from the half-wall on the power play, that rose about 3 feet in the air and landed perfectly flat on the shooter’s stick and ended up in the net. It was the best thing he did his whole time here.
Too bad, he was such a good player.
At his peak in international play, when he picked up the puck team Canada defensemen would start back peddling as fast as they could
Kruton is 29 in that pic. And a professional athlete. Guy looks like a beer league 45 year old. Played like one too.
Some of the iron curtain players like Krouton couldn’t adapt. They saw a Safeway and their minds were blown. Filling 2 carts full of food because the store might be empty the next time they shopped.
Who’s this beautician. Must be the originator of the Phil Kessel diet.
19 comments
Not a lot of people know this but he chose the #17 because that was the limit as to how many hot dogs he’d allow himself to have in a day during the hockey season.
All bets were off in the off season though.
Nice picture!
**Vladimir Krutov**
*Krutov was one of the finest players of his generation, part of the famed KLM line with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, and won two World Junior Championship gold medals, the 1981 Canada Cup, two Olympic gold medals, and six World Championship gold medals playing for the Soviet Union. When he made the jump to the NHL with Igor Larionov to play for the Vancouver Canucks, fans were thrilled to have two of the top Soviet players in the world on the team. But while The Professor managed to adapt to North American customs and NHL hockey, The Tank showed up to training camp looking much like his moniker. Krutov was out-of-shape and overweight and quickly developed a love for junk food. Bob McCammon, the coach of the Canucks at the time, noted “His usual routine was to stop at a 7-11 store and order two hot dogs, a bag of potato chips, and a soft drink. After practice, he would return for a second order.”*
*Krutov was just 29, ostensibly in the prime of his career, but he only managed 34 points for the Canucks, was frequently benched, and ended up cut from the team the following year.*
– PITB
Krutes! They swung for the fences but Larionov was our prize of these two. Krutes just couldn’t adapt.
It’s too bad he didn’t pan out; the KLM line was pretty dominant prior to coming over.
VLAD THE INHALER!
His last name should have been Chub-erov
RIP
Big deal, but it probably won’t be on TV.
I was so excited when we landed these two. Haha.
Literally thought that was John Candy for a second
Oooph! Looks like Kesler got reaaaalllllllly fat and bloated after retirement
The big thing about him was that his body was wrecked from the constant training for a decade under Tikhonov. As soon as there was a taste of freedom it wasn’t compatible with the structure that is needed for being a professional athlete. Plus if memory serves the Canucks didn’t really invest in treating the Russian players very well with simple things like translators. It was such a wasted opportunity that really could have propelled the Canucks into being a great team in the mid 90s.
Hot dogs!
https://preview.redd.it/dtxdobdkssqf1.jpeg?width=272&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98bd1eee4671ec4c26a4fce5da94a417d2a45310
First game in Van, Krutov does this beautiful 8-foot saucer pass from the half-wall on the power play, that rose about 3 feet in the air and landed perfectly flat on the shooter’s stick and ended up in the net. It was the best thing he did his whole time here.
Too bad, he was such a good player.
At his peak in international play, when he picked up the puck team Canada defensemen would start back peddling as fast as they could
Kruton is 29 in that pic. And a professional athlete. Guy looks like a beer league 45 year old. Played like one too.
Some of the iron curtain players like Krouton couldn’t adapt. They saw a Safeway and their minds were blown. Filling 2 carts full of food because the store might be empty the next time they shopped.
Who’s this beautician. Must be the originator of the Phil Kessel diet.