The Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure's hockey skills developed early on as a child in the Soviet Union and when he arrived in the NHL he proved to be a rare and thrilling goal scorer.

Bure grew up in Moscow and attended the Red Army Sports School. As a six-year old he tried out for the school's hockey team, wearing figure skates and was hardly able to stand. He had only started skating earlier that year and, not surprisingly, he didn't come close to making the cut.

When Pavel was seven, his father gave him a couple of months to prove he could be a hockey player. It was a tight deadline, especially since the youngster had had a late start on skates. But Bure turned out to have a natural balance on the blades and he was soon skating circles around kids his own age. His hero was Hall of Famer Valeri Kharlamov, one of the standouts of the 1972 Summit Series. In his teenage years Bure came to the attention of the Soviet hockey machine and was given a roster spot on Viktor Tikhonov's Central Red Army team.

The 1989 World Junior Championships was a coming-out party for the players who'd been touted as the future of the game in the Soviet Union. In particular the line of Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov and Bure was expected to pick up where the famous KLM Line of Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov had left off. But by 1991 all three young stars were making waves in the NHL. Bure, who had been selected as the top forward in that World Junior tournament, was the last of the three to defect to North America.

By 1990 Pavel, who at 19 had already fulfilled his mandatory two years of military service, refused to re-sign with the Red Army club. The decision cost him a place on the 1991 Canada Cup squad. With his father Vladimir and brother Valeri, who would also star in the NHL, he made his way to California. At the time, he and Eric Lindros were considered to be the two best-unsigned players in the world.

Bure made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks in 1991-92, and his 34 goals and 60 points made him an easy choice as winner of the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie.

In 1992-93 Bure cemented his reputation as a world-class scorer, notching 60 goals and 110 points. He scored another 60 the next season, leading the league in that department and earning First-Team All-Star honors. Only Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky had scored more goals in their first three NHL seasons. Over the next few seasons Bure's development was slowed by injuries and the owners' lockout of 1994. Torn knee ligaments limited him to a mere 15 games in 1995-96. He was tentative and still far from his best during the next season, ending up with 23 goals and 55 points in 63 games. He regained much of his form in 1997-98, again exceeding the 50-goal plateau and exciting crowds with his darting end-to-end rushes.

Bure played for Russia at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and the team won a silver medal. Pavel was selected as the tournament's top forward after his 9-goal performance led the field at the star-studded Games. Before the 1998-99 season got underway, Bure announced he would never again play for the Canucks and demanded a trade. He went home to Russia and kept in shape with the Red Army team, though the country's economic situation at the time made it difficult. (The team had been evicted from its home rink and players had not been paid for months on end.) The holdout extended midway through the season, leaving Canucks general manager Brian Burke no choice but to arrange a trade. On January 17, 1999, he sent Bure and defensemen Brad Ference and Bret Hedican to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Ed Jovanovski a former first-overall draft choice, forward Dave Gagner, goalie Kevin Weekes, junior prospect Mike Brown and a first-round draft pick.

The relative anonymity enjoyed by hockey players in Florida suited Bure, who set out to right the Panther ship and had an immediate impact. He scored two goals in his first game and added a hat-trick less than a week later. In his first six games he had eight goals, but he strained a muscle in his right knee two weeks after joining the team and was sidelined for eight games. In his fourth game back in the lineup, he scored a natural hat-trick, three consecutive goals, in the first two periods against Colorado before he felt something give out again in his right knee. He had re-injured the ligament that had forced him to miss much of the 1995-96 season. On March 5 he underwent arthroscopic surgery, and had more extensive work done three weeks later to repair the ligament. His season was over after a mere 11 games, in which he'd scored 13 goals.

During the summer of 1999, Bure dedicated himself to strengthening the knee muscles that were so important to his high-flying game, and in his first full season with Florida he led the NHL with 58 goals, becoming the second man to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. He and his brother Valeri combined to set a league record for goals in one season by a pair of brothers with 93, surpassing the old mark set by Bobby and Dennis Hull. His hat-trick at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto earned him the game's MVP award. When the season resumed his efforts were a key to the Panthers' improvement from 78 points to 98, as well as their return to the playoffs after a two-year absence.

Bure went on to play two more seasons in Florida before he was dealt to the New York Rangers midway through the 2001-02 campaign. Upon his arrival in New York, Bure was counted on help the Rangers get back to the playoffs and respectability, however, injuries over the course of the next two seasons limited the Russian Rocket to just 51 games on Broadway, eventually causing the sniper to announce his retirement from the game in 2005.

Following his retirement form the game, Bure was named general manger of the Russian hockey team for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. The Russian squad however failed to take home a medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game.