The Russian Five is not coming back...because they never left

Originally published December 2025

This morning I thought about the legacy of the legendary Russian Five: a handful of comrades, trained by a country that no longer existed, who came together to play beautiful, devastating hockey in foreign land.

Slava Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov on the Soviet national team of the 1980s.

Fetisov, Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov and Slava Kozlov on the Detroit Red Wings of the 1990s.

Great players, bigger than the sum of their parts.

A confluence of culture, politics and sports led to the distinctly Soviet style.

Many on either side of the fallen Iron Curtain believe that such magic will never again be seen on the ice.

I, for one, am not holding my breath for a rebirth of the Russian Five.

But not because I’m a cynic.

Indeed, there’s no need to wait.

To experience the Russian Five’s symphonic style today, we only need to go as far as last night’s NHL highlights. What was exceptional, is now standard.

The Vegas Golden Knights track back to deny a Philadelphia Flyers rush. VGK15 Noah Hanifin calmly goes stick-on-puck to force a change of possession. A Fetisov-esque play.

VGK9 Jack Eichel, channels the cerebral Larionov and acts as the unit’s dispatcher. He turns and advances the puck to winger Braeden Bowman, who completes the controlled entry.

VGK42 Bowman senses pressure from the PHI defenseman and sacrifices himself by cutting back toward the boards, as the fearless Krutov would have in service of his partners.

VGK49 Ivan Barbashev, more physically imposing than Makarov or Kozlov but possessing a similar feel for the game, skates onto Bowman’s area pass. He fends off a defensive stick with his body, then spots the puck for VGK2 Zach Whitecloud, the deep-lying defenseman who’s now the tip of the spear.

Whitecloud, a defense-first rearguard who’s yet to score this season, finishes the play as Konstantinov often did.

Rather than having an array of set plays, the Russian Five improvised off a short list of offensive principles:

• Puck carrier draws in pressure

• Non-carriers attack space

• Retain possession to manipulate the defense

• Use offensive-zone changes to create an energy advantage

• etc.

The New York Islanders hem the Anaheim Ducks in their zone, shift into a 2-3 and create a whirlpool of movement. NYI38 Travis Mitchell, another low-scoring, defensive Dman, sneaks down from the weak-side point and finishes into an empty net. It’s the undrafted defenseman’s first NHL goal.