Dmitri Sergeyevich Yushkevich (russian: Дмитрий Серге́евич Юшкевич; born November 19, 1971) is a Russian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He spent 11 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with several teams, but most notably for the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Playing career

Dmitri Yushkevich was drafted in the sixth round, 122nd overall, by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

in the

1991 NHL Entry Draft The 1991 NHL Entry Draft was the 29th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York. A total of 264 players were drafted. The worst team in the previous 1990–91 season, the Quebec Nordiques, was give ...

. After eleven seasons in the

(NHL), he returned to the

Russian Superleague The Russian Superleague (russian: Чемпионат России Суперлига, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was consi ...

(RSL) in 2003. After winning a gold medal at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

, Yushkevich made his NHL debut with the Flyers in the 1992–93 season. He appeared in all 82 games in his rookie season, tallying five goals and adding 27 assists. After three seasons with the Flyers, Yushkevich joined the

before the 1995–96 season. In Toronto, Yushkevich blossomed into a top-pair caliber NHL defenceman, particularly under the guidance of coach Pat Quinn, who joined the team in 1998. Between 1998–99 and 2001–02, Yushkevich also emerged as the leader of the Maple Leafs' defense corps. During the 1999 playoffs, Yushkevich paired up with

Danny Markov Daniil Yevgenyevich Markov (russian: Даниил Евгеньевич Марков; born 30 July 1976) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played a nine-year career in the National Hockey League. He also played 11 seasons ...

to neutralize Penguins' superstar

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguin ...

, thus helping the Leafs advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Yushkevich earned a spot in the

2000 NHL All-Star game The 2000 NHL All-Star Game was the 50th All-Star Game in the National Hockey League. It took place on February 6, 2000, at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, home to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 1st NHL All-Star Game took place in 1947 and was also ho ...

, which took place in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. In February 2002, Yushkevich was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood clot. As a result, Yushkevich was forced to miss the rest of the 2001–02 season. Despite Yushkevich's pleas to accept the risk and re-join the club in time for the playoffs, he was not cleared to play by the team. As a Maple Leaf, Yushkevich totalled 506 regular season games and 44 playoff games. His performances with the Leafs earned him a reputation of a warrior, a grinder, and an expert shot-blocker. He was traded to the Florida Panthers before the 2002–03 season for

Róbert Švehla Róbert Švehla ( , ; born January 2, 1969) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL for 9 seasons from 1995 until 2003 for the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Career Švehla was drafted 78th overall ...

. After only 23 games with the Panthers, Yushkevich was traded again. The

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

acquired him, along with a draft pick, in exchange for Andreas Lilja and

Jaroslav Bednář Jaroslav Bednář (born 9 November 1976) is a Czech professional ice hockey winger, who currently plays with HC Vrchlabí in the Czech.2 Liga Playing career Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Bednář began his career with Slavia Prague in 1994 an ...

. Yushkevich would join his third team of the 2002–03 season in March, when the Kings traded him back to Philadelphia for a pair of draft picks. In the 2003–04 season, Yushkevich returned to Russia to play for

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

of the

. He then joined his hometown

Severstal Cherepovets Hockey Club Severstal is a professional ice hockey team based in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. History Founded in 1956, the club was originally known as Stroitel ...

for the 2004–05 season before moving on to

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They ...

for the 2005–06 season. For the 2006–07 season, he played for

SKA St. Petersburg The Hockey Club SKA (russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members o ...

. He then returned to his hometown team of

. Yushkevich decided to retire in January 2008 after the death of his first wife Oksana so that he could take care of their three children. Yushkevich was a member of the Russian national team at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

, earning a silver medal. Yushkevich has since come out of retirement and is playing for Sibir Novosibirsk of the recently formed

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL). He led all defenceman on the team in scoring. On the 3rd of November 2009 it was announced that the Finnish hockey team Kärpät have recruited him. Yushkevich was named among 145 other inductees as the first group to be inducted into the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame on February 17, 2014.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

*Champion of CIS: 1992 (With Dinamo) * NHL All-Star Game winner: 2000 *Russian champion: 2007 (With Metallurg Magnitogorsk) *Winner of Turnir Puchkova: 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yushkevich, Dmitri 1971 births Florida Panthers players HC Dynamo Moscow players Metallurg Magnitogorsk players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Oulun Kärpät players Living people Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Los Angeles Kings players National Hockey League All-Stars Olympic gold medalists for the Unified Team Olympic ice hockey players for Russia Olympic ice hockey players for the Unified Team Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Russia People from Cherepovets Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Russia men's national ice hockey team coaches Russian ice hockey defencemen Severstal Cherepovets players SKA Saint Petersburg players Soviet ice hockey defencemen Toronto Maple Leafs players Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Vologda Oblast