Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Sergei Priakin

Calgary4LIfe · 03-29-2019, 11:51 AM

I was so excited when Priakin came over. There was this enormous buzz not only in Calgary, but seemingly throughout the NHL. Yeah, he didn't have a great go of it in the NHL, but he was the first of many Russians - including some all-time greats that went on to become HOF players - to break into the NHL.

Before that, if you were a Soviet player (or from a Soviet-influenced nation), there was no NHL for you unless you defected. I remember Nedved defecting. You were faced with going to start your life in the west and playing in the beast league in the world and never seeing your family ever again. Priakin was the first player allowed to come over. That was a huge deal.

Russians have made a really nice impact in the NHL over the last 3 decades. Makarov obviously in Calgary, but Larionov, Federov, Bure, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Malkin, Zubov, Gonchar... the list goes on. I argue that Kasparaitis (although Lithuanian, but was a Soviet-era nation) made a huge impact in the NHL (no pun intended) with how he broke the stereotype of how a Soviet player played the game.

As for starting threads with a link to the Athletic, perhaps keep in mind that not everyone has a subscription, so putting in a bit more effort than the link and a one-liner would be beneficial. There is nothing worse than when people post up a click-bait style thread. You don't have to copy the whole article - a few points should suffice, or even just type out a few sentences with your thoughts about the article. That's what is probably annoying people without subscriptions (myself included here). We don't expect the entire article (or even large pieces of it even) to be copied-pasted, but a short summary or even a just a few sentences to get a conversation started would probably assuage the negative reactions to linking some Athletic articles. It is funny actually - when NHL.com, Sun or Herald articles are linked, there seems to be MORE information. The Athletic links seem to be out of the way in keeping everything a mystery unless you click on it. I think that is part of what is rubbing people the wrong way.

03-29-2019, 11:51 AM	#11
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I was so excited when Priakin came over. There was this enormous buzz not only in Calgary, but seemingly throughout the NHL. Yeah, he didn't have a great go of it in the NHL, but he was the first of many Russians - including some all-time greats that went on to become HOF players - to break into the NHL. Before that, if you were a Soviet player (or from a Soviet-influenced nation), there was no NHL for you unless you defected. I remember Nedved defecting. You were faced with going to start your life in the west and playing in the beast league in the world and never seeing your family ever again. Priakin was the first player allowed to come over. That was a huge deal. Russians have made a really nice impact in the NHL over the last 3 decades. Makarov obviously in Calgary, but Larionov, Federov, Bure, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Malkin, Zubov, Gonchar... the list goes on. I argue that Kasparaitis (although Lithuanian, but was a Soviet-era nation) made a huge impact in the NHL (no pun intended) with how he broke the stereotype of how a Soviet player played the game. As for starting threads with a link to the Athletic, perhaps keep in mind that not everyone has a subscription, so putting in a bit more effort than the link and a one-liner would be beneficial. There is nothing worse than when people post up a click-bait style thread. You don't have to copy the whole article - a few points should suffice, or even just type out a few sentences with your thoughts about the article. That's what is probably annoying people without subscriptions (myself included here). We don't expect the entire article (or even large pieces of it even) to be copied-pasted, but a short summary or even a just a few sentences to get a conversation started would probably assuage the negative reactions to linking some Athletic articles. It is funny actually - when NHL.com, Sun or Herald articles are linked, there seems to be MORE information. The Athletic links seem to be out of the way in keeping everything a mystery unless you click on it. I think that is part of what is rubbing people the wrong way.