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Sunday, March 23, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Igor Larionov, Red Wings center, is one of the great passers in hockey history. The NHL's oldest player at 42, he remains an essential component as Detroit gears for a second consecutive Stanley Cup. Dejan Kovacevic asked him questions Tuesday at Mellon Arena.

Q: You have long been a proponent of graceful hockey. What do you think of where it is today, and what effect do you think it is having on the NHL's youngest players?

A: Most of the league is using a trap system, and that takes away from players with offensive skill. How are you going to tell a kid like Ilya Kovalchuk that he has to play the trap? Atlanta doesn't trap, but let's use him as an example. Obviously, you have to play defense, but you should never tell a kid whose talent is scoring goals to not try to score goals. The trap is part of the problem. The other is that there are too many teams. It's nice for business to have 30, but you can't spread players around so much and have good hockey. That's why, I think, you see so many teams that don't care about scoring.

Q: What would be your solution?

A: I always say that the elimination of the red line would help. But I really believe it is most about your approach. If you have more teams that believe in offensive hockey, you will see more goals and more fans. If you believe in defensive hockey, in having 1-1 games, I don't think that's fun for anyone. Not for the fans, for sure. They pay big money to come watch real hockey and, sometimes, they come to watch paint dry.

Q: Vladislav Tretiak and Vyacheslav Fetisov are the only Russian players in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Is that right?

A: The NHL is played in North America, but more than a third of the players are from Europe, so that probably answers your question. More than that, there are so many great Russians who never had a chance to play in the NHL, but the North American fans never got to see them play. If you ask Pavel Datsyuk who was Stan Mikita, he doesn't know. The same way, if you ask Boyd Devereaux who was Valery Kharlamov, he's got no idea. But Kharlamov was a great, great player who never had a chance to play here. A true Hall of Fame for the sport should have more of an international flavor.