Pavel Bure Career Biography and Statistics

Bio:
Pavel Bure, the “Russian Rocket," was one of the most electrifying performers in the NHL for the better part of a decade. He came from an elite athletic family; his father was an Olympic swimmer for the Soviet Union and his brother, Valeri, also played in the NHL.

Bure was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks from the Soviet Red Army team in 1989. He won the Calder Trophy in 1992 and scored 60 goals in the next two seasons. In 1994 he guided the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals against the New York Rangers. Bure's lightning-like rushes helped make the series one of the league's classics, however, disappointingly it ended for Bure as the Rangers won in seven games. After scoring 51 goals and finishing third in the NHL with 90 points in 1997-98, Bure announced that he would not play for the Canucks again, and held out until halfway through the 1998-99 season, when Vancouver traded him to the Florida Panthers. Three years later, despite Bure's scoring 59 and 58 goals in consecutive seasons, the Panthers traded him to the New York Rangers.

Plagued by injuries throughout his career, Bure sat out the 2003-04 due to a lingering knee injury that two surgeries failed to correct. In 2005, Bure retired from professional hockey due to complications from the injury. Bure later became the general manager of Russia's Olympic hockey team.