Despite the sarcasm of my earlier post, Sergei Makarov is a legend and fully deserving of his place in the hall.
There are times when you just kind of wish you could transport a young Sergei Makarov into this era of hockey and see what he could do with modern training, equipment and tactics.
He just saw the game so well.
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this is why pinder and boomer will never be talked about in the same circles as duhatchek or Johnson in Calgary media circles ... and why I don't listen to the fan
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couldnt agree more, watching him with the Flames, you could really see how talented he was and he was past his prime at that point. i would imagine if you asked Nieuwendyk and Roberts about him, they would acknowledge how talented he was... that was a great line
He never did much in the playoffs, though. Still a great player. Didn't hey change Calder Trophy rules because he won it at age 31 or something?
I remember him and German Titov being interviewed by Grant Pollock after a game and they had that Russian assistant coach the Flames had translating for them.
Yeah you could be right. I'm thinking Trefilov, now that you mention it. Pollock asked the question, the coach translated it into Russian, and ( Trefilov?)answered in English. Titov answers in russian and the coach translated it back. That's probably why I thought it was Makarov because I remember being impressed that at least the guy was trying to learn English.
I do remember an "Ask The Flames" segment where Peter Maher asked Makarov a question and Makarov, in the thickest Russian accent ever, replied, "Oooh. Tough question........ I don't know." ��. That was the end of that segment.
This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not completely - would be great to have Makarov as an assistant coach for the Flames and force them to make tape-to-tape passes. That is something he always emphasized while playing.
I am sure Makarov would absolutely love Brodie today, that's for sure.
One of my fantasies back then is that the Flames got Loob back, and they would go out on the PP together. That would have been so much fun watching those two on the ice together.
So glad the NHL got their act together and recognized one of hockey's all-time greats.
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There’s an old tale that he once interrupted Terry Crisp’s chalk-talk during practice and started to diagram his own play.
“The challenge was that, let’s be honest, we didn’t play the same style he was used to,” said Crisp, who skipped the Flames to their Stanley Cup parade but lasted just one more season in Calgary and is now a broadcaster for the Nashville Predators.
“We were always, ‘Get it out of your own zone as fast as you can, get it through the neutral zone as fast as you can and get it as clean and deep as you can in the other end.’ And that resulted in a lot of dump and chase, dump and chase. When you look back on it, it seems kind of dozy on our part.
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“I remember when Alexander Radulov came just in recent years to Nashville, and he still couldn’t wrap his head around, ‘Why would we give them the puck when we have it?’ Makarov was the same way — ‘I don’t want to give it to them. We’ve got it. If we give it to them, we have to go back and get it.’ ”
I had to chuckle at a story was told on the radio the other day. Roberts told one of the local hockey writers at the time of how Makarov made everyone better around him and also expected a lot from them. In this particular occasion Makarov was wide open on the far side of the net and when Roberts could only get the puck through 2 of the 3 defenders, Makarov stared Roberts down and shook his head as they were headed back to the bench.
And just to think that Makarov could've garnered Pronger to the Flames! What the heck did we get out of that? Dang Riseborough! Wow, what a sad history of bad trades or what?
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Sergei Makarov was a pioneer of puck possession hockey
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As Roberts was unexpectedly approaching the 50-goal milestone in 1991-92, he made a deal with Makarov.
“I promised him, if he got me to 50, I’d name my next son Sergei,” Roberts said. Days later, Makarov did just that and asked him if he actually planned to make good on his promise. Roberts laughed and replied: “I guess it just means we’re not going to have any more kids.”
Roberts finished the year with 53 goals, Makarov earning the first assist on 40, and did eventually have more children with his second wife. However, he couldn’t convince her that Sergei as a first name went well with the surname of Roberts.
“So instead, he named his dog Sergei,” Makarov said, in his typical deadpan fashion.
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“The first I dumped the puck into his corner for him to go get it, I remember he just looked at me and shook his head,” Roberts said. “We went back to the bench and he says, ‘Robs, why you dump puck in? Give me puck, you go to net.’ He had no interest in fore-checking; there wasn’t a chance he was going to go in and fore-check.
“He used to say to me, ‘Robs, puck on stick, puck on stick.’ I said, ‘Sergei, buddy, you gotta realize who you’re playing with. It’s not [Igor] Larionov or [Vladimir] Krutov or [Slava] Fetisov, it’s Gary Roberts. You’re going to get some passes in your skates, buddy. That’s just the way it is.”
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“It got to the point where, because I wasn’t playing him in the last two or three minutes of a game, he would undo his skates, take off his helmet, put his gloves in his lap, lean his stick against the glass and just sit there,” King said. “But one night, we were up two goals, so I thought we were safe and I barked: ‘Roberts, Nieuwendyk, MAKAROV!’ I did it late, too, so the line that was on the ice was already coming to the bench and now Sergei’s in a panic.
“He flips on the helmet, doesn’t do up the chin strap. Puts on his gloves, grabs his stick, didn’t get his skates tied up properly, and over the boards he goes. Immediately, he gets the puck and goes in and rings a shot right off the crossbar. He does a quick turn, comes back to the bench, sits down and gives me the longest stare you’ve ever seen.
“That was Makarov. Sometimes, it would happen to the players too. If a guy just shot the puck in, Sergei would give him that same look – like the kiss of death, as if he were wondering, ‘Who am I playing with?’ What planet are they from?’ But he was really a great player – and a really interesting guy.”
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“People would always say to me, ‘Who’s the toughest guy in the NHL to get the puck away from?’ and I’d answer, ‘Jaromir Jagr.’ But the other guy was Sergei. Sergei wasn’t a tall guy, but remember how thick he was? He’d play keep-away with us in practice and you couldn’t lift his stick up because he was built like a fire hydrant. He protected the puck as well as anyone in the NHL ever has.
“He taught us about puck control and he made us all much better players.”
