"Larionov is unique," Nickolay Epstein once said. "He plays like a Russian Gretzky."

That was apparent immediately. Like Wayne Gretzky, who holds dozens of NHL scoring records, Larionov compensates for a lack of size with uncommon sense of the game as it is unfolding.

"He was always so small, really small," Epstein said of Larionov. "But I could tell, even when he was a young boy, that he would be a great player."

Asked how Larionov made his impression on a coach who spent six years coaching Russia's national team, Epstein pointed to his forehead.

"That's the most important skill of all," he said.

Detroit draftee Pavel Datsuk, who now plays for Dynamo Energia, is not as small as Larionov, but very, very smart and his play greatly resembles that of a young Larionov. This forward had never been chosen for any Russian national team before, but this year he became a full member of the team. He lived up to the expectations of the coaches at the second stage of the Four Nations tournament (Karjala Cup) held in Finland. In the game against the Chech Republic which is an Olympic and World champion, Pavel Datsuk made a clever brilliant assist to Maxim Sushinsky when they rushed two on one. It was a kind of elegant feed from behind, which resulted in a goal scored by his teammate.