Vladimir Krutov

Vladimir Krutov
Born	June 1, 1960 Moscow, RUS
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	194 lb (88 kg; 13 st 12 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shot	Left
NHL team Former teams	retired Vancouver Canucks HC CSKA Moscow (RSL) ZSC Lions (Nationalliga A) Östersunds IK (Swedish First Division) Brunflo IK (Swedish First Division)
NHL draft	238th overall, 1986 Vancouver Canucks
Playing career	1977–1996

Olympic medal record
Men's Ice Hockey
	1984 Sarajevo	Ice hockey
	1988 Calgary	Ice hockey
	1980 Lake Placid	Ice hockey

Vladimir Yevgenyevich Krutov (Russian: Владимир Евгеньевич Крутов) born June 1, 1960 in Moscow, USSR now Russia) is a former Russian hockey forward. Together with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, he was part of the famed KLM Line. He is considered one of the best hockey players of the 1980s.

For the Soviet Union national team, Krutov won the 1981 Canada Cup, two golds (1984, 1988) and one silver (1980) in the Olympics, and six golds (1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990), one silver (1987), and one bronze (1985) in the World Championships.

On the club level, Krutov played for CSKA Moscow from 1978 to 1989. He was one of the first Russian players to make a jump to the NHL, doing so with the Vancouver Canucks in 1989. However, Krutov did not have a successful season, battling homesickness and weight problems (the latter leading to the unflattering nickname Vladimir Crouton).

Krutov went back to Europe after his lone season in North America and played for a number of smaller clubs before retiring, for example he played in the small Swedish clubs of Östersund and Brunflo. He has since gone into coaching.

External links

• stats from hockeydb.com