Denis Aleksandrovich Shvidki (russian: Денис Александрович Швидкий; born November 21, 1980) is a Ukrainian-born 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 ...

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

who played 76 games 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 ...

(NHL) with the Florida Panthers. He was drafted in the first round, 12th overall, by the Panthers in the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talen ...

Playing career

As a youth, he played in the 1994

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a team from

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.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 ...

Torpedo 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) ...

, Shvidki made his North American debut with the Barrie Colts of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overa ...

in the 1998–99 season. After two seasons with the Colts, he joined the Panthers'

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

affiliate, the

Louisville Panthers The Louisville Panthers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Louisville, Kentucky. Their home venue was Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The mascot was a light brown "panther" named Paws. They were a ...

, in the 2000–01 season. He also appeared in 43

NHL 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 ...

games with the Panthers that season, scoring six goals and adding ten assists. After three more seasons split between Florida and its minor league affiliates, Shvidki returned to Russia during the 2004–05 NHL lockout and has played there since. Shvidki was reported to transfer to Kärpät Oulu (Finland) in October 2009 for the rest of the season, however after one month try-out, Shvidki was released. Shvidki played a single season in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, his third in the DEL, with the

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

before signing a one-year contract with 2nd Bundesliga club, Heilbronner Falken on May 21, 2013. He was released by the club before appearing with the Falken's and completed his professional career in the lower Russian league. In mid 2015, Shvidki joined the Florida Jr. Panthers hockey club and is still coaching under that organization as of end of the 2016–17 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* 1980 births Amur Khabarovsk players Barrie Colts players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Florida Panthers draft picks Florida Panthers players Hannover Scorpions players Krefeld Pinguine players Living people Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Louisville Panthers players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Oulun Kärpät players San Antonio Rampage players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players SKA Saint Petersburg players Sportspeople from Kharkiv Ukrainian ice hockey right wingers Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players HC Yugra players {{Ukraine-icehockey-bio-stub