You're reading: Former Soviet great hockey player Krutov dies at 52

MOSCOW - Vladimir Krutov, part of the famous Soviet KLM offensive line with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov in the 1980s, died in Moscow on June 6.

Krutov was taken to a local hospital with internal bleeding in his stomach on June 4 just three days after celebrating his 52nd birthday.

"I’m shocked. I saw him this morning in hospital, then came back home and got this phone call that he had died," his wife Nina told Reuters.

Russian ice hockey chief Vladislav Tretyak said on the federation’s website (www.fhr.ru): "We lost a great friend, someone with whom all of us would go to war without any doubt."

President Vladimir Putin also sent his condolences to Krutov’s family.

"We lost a great sportsman, who was part of the illustrious history of Soviet and Russian hockey," Putin was quoted as saying by the Kremlin press office. "He was a born forward, sincere and open person, a true hero for millions of our fans."

In the early 1980s, Soviet and CSKA Moscow coach Viktor Tikhonov created the famous five unit, teaming up left wing Krutov, center Larionov and right wing Makarov with defensemen Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov.

"I just can’t find the words to describe how I feel," Tikhonov, who gave Krutov his first taste of top-level hockey when he drafted then 17-year-old into CSKA’s first team in 1978.

Krutov, nicknamed ‘the Tank’ for his stocky build and fearsome looks, won two Olympic and five world titles as a member of the Soviet national team before joining the National Hockey League (NHL) to play for the Vancouver Canucks with Larionov in 1989.

Unlike his friend and long-time line-mate Larionov, who became an All-Star in the NHL, Krutov’s North American career lasted only one season.

He played 61 games, scoring 11 goals for Vancouver in the 1989-90 season.

After playing a few years in Switzerland and Sweden, Krutov retired in 1996. He later briefly coached CSKA and also worked for the Russian youth training centre in Moscow.

Krutov, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 2010, is survived by his wife and two sons Denis and Alexei, who plays for Yekaterinburg in the Continental Hockey League (KHL).