When the New York Rangers selected defenseman Sergei Zubov in the fifth round of the 1990 NHL Draft, the Iron Curtain had yet to fall. Perestroika and Glasnost had yet to take full effect. Neil Smith, who was the team’s general manager at the time, took a calculated risk drafting the talented Moscow native since Russian players coming over to North America was still a bit of a novelty and an abstract anomaly to say the least. Little did Smith, or even the most glass-half-full member of the Garden Faithful, know that Zubov would come over to the NHL and begin what has now officially become a Hall of Fame career.
1994 Cup Winner Sergei Zubov Elected To Hall of Fame
