Originally published September 2023. Rewritten 2026 with corrected career facts. The original version of this piece contained multiple factual errors — wrong birth date, wrong birthplace, false club affiliations, false championship claims. This is the corrected record.
Igor Sergeyevich Makarov was the 33rd pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Chicago Blackhawks. Second round. He signed with Chicago in 2010, spent the full 2010–11 season in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs, and never played an NHL game. His career ran about fifteen years across the KHL and its feeder system. He retired in 2020. He is not the same person as the more famous Sergei Makarov of the Soviet KLM Line, and he is not the same person as the Russian billionaire businessman Igor Makarov.
Drafted: 33rd overall, 2nd round, 2006 NHL Entry Draft, by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Retired: 2020.
Hockey Hall of Fame: No.
Stanley Cup: Never won.
Gagarin Cup: Never won.
Career trajectory
The draft and the KHL years
Chicago selected Makarov in the second round of the 2006 draft, betting on a fast Moscow-trained winger with a quick wrist shot and two-way instincts. He did not immediately come over. He spent his early professional years in the Kontinental Hockey League — Russia's top professional league, formed in 2008 from the former Russian Superleague. He played for Krylia Sovetov Moscow and Dynamo Moscow before Chicago moved to sign him in 2010.
The Blackhawks contract and the AHL year
In August 2010, Chicago signed Makarov to a two-year NHL contract. He did not make the NHL roster. He spent the full 2010–11 season with the Rockford IceHogs, the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate. He never played an NHL regular-season game. The career pattern is common — high-round European draft pick, imported, tested in the AHL, unable to break the NHL lineup, returned to the KHL where the money and the ice time are both stronger for a player at that level.
Return to the KHL
In August 2011, Makarov signed a three-year deal with SKA Saint Petersburg — one of the KHL's top-tier organizations. On November 27, 2014, SKA traded him to HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk for a fifth-round pick. He then played two seasons with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. In September 2018, he signed his second stint with Dynamo Moscow. His last KHL club was HC Sibir Novosibirsk. He retired in 2020.
What the career actually represents
Makarov's career is the working case for the KHL as a self-sustaining alternative to the NHL for skilled Russian wingers who don't quite crack the NHL top-six. The KHL pays well, keeps players in Russia's cultural and family context, and produces a professional career of fifteen-plus years for a player who might otherwise cycle between the AHL and Europe. He is not a Hall of Fame player. He is a career professional at the second-highest level of the sport, drafted higher than he ultimately projected.
His father Sergei Makarov played eight seasons with Krylia Sovetov Moscow in the 1980s — the same club Igor came through. This is not the same Sergei Makarov as the Hockey Hall of Fame member and Soviet KLM Line legend who played for CSKA Moscow, the Soviet national team, and later the Calgary Flames. Two different people. Coverage that conflates them is wrong on the record.
Editorial note: the original version of this piece contained multiple factual errors including wrong birth date, wrong birthplace, false club affiliation, and false championship claims. This rewrite corrects the record against Wikipedia, EliteProspects, Hockey-Reference, and the KHL.
No. Chicago drafted him 33rd overall in 2006 and signed him to a two-year NHL contract in August 2010. He spent the entire 2010–11 season with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. He returned to the KHL in August 2011. He never played an NHL regular-season game.
Did Igor Makarov win the Gagarin Cup?
No. Ak Bars Kazan won the first Gagarin Cup in 2009. Makarov was not on that team. He played for Krylia Sovetov Moscow and Dynamo Moscow at the time.
Is he related to Sergei Makarov of the KLM Line?
No. Igor Makarov's father is a different Sergei Makarov who played eight seasons with Krylia Sovetov Moscow in the 1980s. The famous KLM Line Sergei Makarov played for CSKA Moscow and the Calgary Flames and is a Hockey Hall of Fame member. Two different players.
When did he retire?
2020. His last KHL club was HC Sibir Novosibirsk. Editorial note: the original version of this piece contained multiple factual errors including wrong birth date, wrong birthplace, false club affiliation, and false championship claims. This rewrite corrects the record against Wikipedia, EliteProspects, Hockey-Reference, and the KHL. Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
