page_title: Pavel Bure
section_title: Senior
hierarchical_section_title: Pavel Bure / International career / Senior
caption_attribution_description: English: The mens ice hockey Gold Medal Game of the en:1998 Winter Olympics in en:Nagano.
context_page_description: Pavel Vladimirovich Bure is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "The Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bure played for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks, the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers. Trained in the Soviet Union, he played three seasons with the Central Red Army team before his NHL career.
  Selected 113th overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by Vancouver, he began his NHL career in the 1991–92 season, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's best rookie before leading the NHL in goal-scoring in 1993-94 and helping the Canucks to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. After seven seasons the Canucks dealt Bure to the Panthers, where he won back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophies as the league's leading goal-scorer. Bure struggled with knee injuries throughout his career, resulting in his retirement in 2005 as a member of the Rangers, although he had not played since 2003. He averaged better than a point per game in his NHL career and is fourth all-time in goals per game. After six years of eligibility, Bure was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in June 2012.
context_section_description: Bure was set to represent the Soviet Union at the 1991 Canada Cup, however after turning down a three-year contract with his Russian club, CSKA Moscow, he was left off the final roster. Further controversy ensued five years later in the inaugural 1996 World Cup (the successor tournament to the Canada Cup). Bure had recently recovered from reconstructive surgery to his right knee, and had begun practicing with the Russian national team, when he refused to sign a petition organized by national team veteran Viecheslav Fetisov. With the Russian Ice Hockey Federation dealing with internal corruption, the petition called for the ouster of a few select Russian ice hockey officials. In response, Bure explained, "I do not sign petitions. I believe I should work – play hockey. Petitions to the federation or to Olympic committees do not interest me." Bure played in the preliminary tournament games, reunited on a line with Fedorov and Mogilny. Considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time, it was the only time the three played together at the senior level. Bure bruised a kidney in one of the preliminary games, forcing him out of the main tournament.
  Bure played his first international games for Russia in preliminary games for the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. He played on a line with Fedorov and Mogilny, the first and only time the three of them would play together at the senior level; the line was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. However Bure bruised a kidney in one of the games, and was forced to miss the main tournament.
  Two years later, Bure made his Olympic debut with Russia at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. He helped his team to advance to the gold medal game after a five-goal game in Russia's 7–4 semifinal win against Finland. The Russians lost the gold medal game to the Czech Republic, ending with silver. Bure finished with a tournament-high nine goals to be named the top forward, and though he recorded no assists, placed third in point-scoring with nine points in six games.
  Bure's next international tournament was the 2000 World Championships, held in Saint Petersburg. The Russians had a disappointing tournament and finished eleventh. In six games, Bure managed four goals and an assist. Two years later, Bure made his second Olympic appearance at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, playing with a fractured hand. Bure finished his final international tournament as a player with two goals and an assist in six games while Russia won the bronze medal.
  On the announcement of his retirement in 2005, Bure was named Russia's Olympic general manager, succeeding Viacheslav Fetisov. He promised to put an end to the Russian Hockey Federation's history of internal conflict and player boycotts, saying, "You won't see such a mess with the national team that you've seen here before," and that "You won't see grouchy players here anymore. Only those who really want to play for Russia will be called into the team." As general manager, Bure chose the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The Russians failed to win a medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal match. Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, former Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak was named Bure's successor as Olympic general manager.
  In December 2011, Bure was announced as one of the 2012 inductees into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He was named alongside American Phil Housley, Finn Raimo Helminen and Czechoslovak Milan Nový in the annual class. The players were inducted in a ceremony in May 2012.
caption: Bure at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. He scored nine goals in six games in that tournament.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2018:11:07 01:05:07", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8831", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "478", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "383", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "A8D802EE668A4FF0931696F440A6B1CB"}