A book about the great Soviet hockey player, whose skill with the puck aroused admiration among millions of fans around the world. During his lifetime, number 17 of the invincible Soviet national team was called a “Legend” not only in our country, but also in the homeland of hockey - Canada. But at the same time, this is a book about the incredibly bright, honest and decent person that Valery Borisovich Kharlamov was, about his difficult path to big-time hockey, about the trials that he had to endure, about his friends and comrades on the USSR national team and his native CSKA. Alas, fate turned out to be cruel to him, measuring out only thirty-three years of his life and once again confirming the bitter truth: geniuses do not live long... A significant part of the book was made up of memories of people who knew Valery Kharlamov closely. Many facts of his biography are described here for the first time.