6 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Pavel Bure (7e score de tous les temps)
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6 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Pavel Bure (7e score de tous les temps)
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7. Pavel Bure — 428GP | 254G | 224A | 478P | 1992-1998
Pavel Bure was born in Moscow on March 31, 1975. His father, Vladimir, was a professional swimmer and had aspirations for Pavel to follow a similar path, but Pavel was more interested in playing hockey. Bure started playing at an early age. He tried out for CSKA Moscow Hockey School at six years old. Bure did not make the program after initially trying out and was given an ultimatum by his father to improve or be withdrawn from hockey. By age eleven, Bure was not only the best player on his team, but the best player in the league.
In 1982, as a young teenager, Bure had an opportunity along with two other up and coming soviet players to skate alongside Wayne Gretzky and Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak in a promotional video.
Bure began his professional career with CSKA at just 16 years old. Bure earned a regular spot in the men’s lineup starting in the 1988-89 season. As a rookie, Bure set a league record with 17 goals and he finished the year with 26 total points.
That summer, Bure was controversially selected by the Vancouver Canucks 113th overall in the 1989 NHL Draft. The controversy started because most teams in the NHL were under the impression that Bure was ineligible to be drafted until the following season. At 18-years old, Bure could have been selected in the first three rounds. He was only eligible to be selected in the later rounds of the draft had he played two professional seasons with an average of 11 games per season. Vancouver’s Head Scout, Mike Penny, had discovered Bure played in additional exhibition and international games with the Central Red Army and was thus eligible for selection in the later rounds of the draft.
At the draft, there were rumors of other teams having similar information as Vancouver regarding Bure’s eligibility. Although Vancouver originally planned to select him in the 8th round, they ended up picking him two rounds earlier at 113th overall. Multiple teams questioned the legitimacy of the extra games that Bure had played and the selection of Bure caused a frenzy on the draft stage leading to formal complaints and an investigation by the league. Originally, the pick was deemed illegal by NHL President John Ziegler, but after a lengthy appeal process, Vancouver’s draft selection was deemed legitimate one day prior to the 1990 NHL Draft. This video of Brian Burke summarizing the situation by Sportsnet sums it up well [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1zEcyPsyco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1zEcyPsyco)
Due to legal proceedings, Bure joined the Canucks a bit late into the start of the 1991-92 season. The Vancouver fans and media were all eagerly awaiting his debut. His first team practice had 2000 fans in attendance. Bure lived up to the hype in his rookie season. He showcased his unique skill set of blazing speed, elite puck handling and incredible shooting throughout the season. Iain MacIntyre referred to Bure as the “fastest soviet creation since Sputnik” which ultimately led to him earning the nickname “Russian Rocket.”
After scoring 34 goals and 60 points in 65 games, Bure became the first Canuck to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie. One of the most impressive stats from Bure’s rookie season was that he scored 22 goals in the final 23 games of the season. The most bizarre stat was that despite winning the Calder Trophy, Bure was not on the NHL All-Rookie team. Even though he had the most votes amongst rookies, his votes were split between left wing and right wing resulting in him being excluded from the team.
In the playoffs, Bure registered his first NHL hat trick in Game 6 of the first round against the Winnipeg Jets. Vancouver avoided elimination and ended up winning Game 7 to advance and play the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks lost to Edmonton in 6 games and Bure finished his first playoffs with 6 goals and 10 points in 13 games.
In 1993 & 1994, Bure had back-to-back 60 goal seasons. He also represented Vancouver in the 1993 NHL All-Star Game. His 110 points in the 1993 smashed the previous franchise record of 91 points by Patrik Sundström. In 1994, Bure was over 100 points for the second consecutive season and his 60 goal total was the most in the league. Bure was instrumental in Vancouver’s iconic 1994 playoff run. One of his most iconic goals in his career was a double-overtime breakaway goal past Mike Vernon to eliminate the Calgary Flames in the first round. Overall, he scored 16 goals and 31 points in 24 games which led the team and was 2nd in the playoffs to defenseman Brian Leetch. He was also the highest scoring Russian player in the playoffs until being surpassed by Evgeni Malkin in 2009.
Man, a healthy Bure could have challenged Gretzky for most goals I feel. It’s also crazy to me with our cursed history that we were actually allowed to draft him
Alright, now I can get excited