Je suis tombe un peu par hasard sur cet interview de Larionov et je la partage car elle me semble bien interessante et revelatrice du hockey qu on voit en NHL depuis des annees maintenants ...
Et pourquoi j aime pas trop les coachs style Therrien
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Igor Larionov:[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"If you watch video of [Red Army] back then, it barely resembles the way the NHL is played today. It’s more similar to how Barcelona [/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]play soccer
http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png[/img][/font][/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]. Our philosophy was about puck control, improvisation, and constant movement. Now, the game is all about 'north-south,' chip-and-chase. We moved side-to-side and swooped around the ice looking for open spaces. A backward pass was just as good as a forward pass.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"I was lucky enough to finally make it out of the U.S.S.R. in 1989. I played for 12 seasons and won three Stanley Cups, and I never changed the way I played. I was 5’10”, 165 pounds. If I was just coming into the [/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Leaguehttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png[/img][/font][/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif] today, I would probably be considered too small. I would be sent down to the minors after my first or second neutral zone turnover.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"I am not exaggerating. There’s a reason why Pavel Datsyuk went undrafted in 1996 and 1997.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"People ask me why this creative style of play is now so rare at the NHL level. The first thing that gets pointed to is the fighting and dirty play. But that’s not the heart of the problem. I’ve never been a fan of fighting, but hockey has always been a violent game. Bobby Clarke purposely slashed Valeri Kharlamov and broke his ankle at the 1972 Summit Series. Those games were more brutal than anything you see today, and it didn’t stop the Soviets from playing creative hockey.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"The problem is more philosophical and starts way before players get to the NHL. It’s easier to destroy than to create. As a coach, it’s easier to tell your players to suffocate the opposing team and not turn the puck over. There are still players whose imagination and creativity capture the Soviet spirit — Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in Chicago just to name a few. However, they are becoming exceptions to the rule. Many young players who are intelligent and can see the game four moves ahead are not valued. They’re told “simple, simple, simple.”[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"That mentality is kind of boring. Nobody wants to get fired. Nobody wants to get sent down to the minors. If you look at the coaches in Juniors and minor league hockey, many of them were not skill players. It’s a lot of former enforcers and grinders who take these coaching jobs. Naturally, they tell their players to be just like them. Their players are 17, 18 years old — younger than I was when I joined the Red Army team. [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"We lose a lot of Pavel Datsyuks to the closed-minded nature of the AHL and NHL.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"I remember Datsyuk made a couple turnovers in a game when he first came to Detroit at age 23. Players on the team like Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and myself had to tell him, “Pavel, just keep doing what you’re doing.” Thankfully, Scotty Bowman had the wisdom to see his potential. If he was on a different team with a different coach who did not appreciate that kind of unique skill, Datsyuk might have been out of the league. He would be playing in the KHL tonight.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"In Russia right now, there are four or five Datsyuks playing in the KHL who never got their chance. Sergei Mozyakin led the KHL in scoring last season and was in the scoring race for most of his 20s. But he’s 33 now and nobody in America has ever heard of him. Why? Most North American coaches don’t have the patience for his style of play.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"I roll my eyes whenever I hear people talk about how fast the game is now and how sophisticated the systems have become. Watching the game, does it really seem much faster? Does it really seem more advanced? We had a saying in the Soviet days that I wish more coaches and scouts would adopt today: It’s not how fast you skate, it’s how fast you think."[/font]
