Igor Borisovich Korolev (russian: Игорь Борисович Королёв; September 6, 1970 – September 7, 2011) was a Russian-Canadian 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 hock ...

player and coach. Korolev played over 700 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) from 1992 until 2004. Korolev returned to Russia, and played a further seven seasons in the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(RSL) and the

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) before retiring from active play in 2010. In 2011, Korolev accepted an assistant coach position with

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 KHL. Korolev was killed in the

2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash On 7 September 2011, YAK-Service Flight 9633, a Yakovlev Yak-42 air charter, charter flight operated by Yak-Service, YAK-Service carrying players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed on take-off nea ...

along with nearly the entire roster of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. A native of the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. in the Decree on the system of government of Russia (1918), 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state (polity), state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territ ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, Korolev became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Canadian

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in 2000.

Playing career

Korolev began his professional playing career with

HC Dynamo Moscow HC Dynamo Moscow () is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. Dynamo has won the Gagarin Cup twice, in 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, and have won th ...

in the 1988–89 season appearing once. The following season, Korolev became a full member of the team, playing 17 games. He played two further full seasons with Dynamo. In all three seasons, Dynamo won the league championship. Korolev was drafted by the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

in the second round, 38th overall in the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who retire ...

. After five games with Dynamo in the 1992–93 season, Korolev left to join the Blues. Korolev played for the Blues for two seasons. Korolev was unsigned in the 1994–95 season and he returned to Dynamo. He was picked up by the Winnipeg Jets in the waiver draft in January 1995 and stayed with the team as it moved to Phoenix. He signed as a free agent with Toronto in 1997. He was traded to Chicago in 2001 where he played until 2004. He then returned to Russia and signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. After one season, he transferred to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he played three seasons. He played one season with Atlant Moscow Oblast and one final season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl where he retired after the 2009–10 season. He became an assistant coach with the team and was still an assistant at the time of his death.

Death

Korolev died on September 7, 2011, the day after he turned 41, when a

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airli ...

passenger aircraft crashed just outside

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

, Russia while transporting Lokomotiv to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

to play their opening game of the season. Lokomotiv officials said "everyone from the main roster was on the plane plus four players from the youth team." All aboard were killed, aside from one crew member.

Personal

Igor and Vera Korolev married in June 1990. Igor and Vera have two daughters, Kristina and Anastasia. Korolev's family has a permanent home in the North York district of

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 ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The Korolevs obtained Canadian citizenship in 2000. Korolev was buried in Toronto at Mount Pleasant Cemetery after a funeral on September 18, 2011. Korolev was the godfather of fellow NHL player

Nik Antropov Nikolai Alexandrovich Antropov (russian: Николай Александрович Антропов; born February 18, 1980) is a Kazakhstani-Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the ...

's son. Korolev and Antropov both played the 2000–01 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Honors

* Soviet championship: 1990 (with Dynamo) * Soviet championship: 1991 (with Dynamo) * Championship of SNG: 1992 (with Dynamo) * International Hockey League: 1993 (with Dynamo) *International Hockey League: 1995 (with Dynamo) *

: 2007 (with Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Korolev, Igor 1970 births 2011 deaths Chicago Blackhawks players Atlant Moscow Oblast players HC Dynamo Moscow players Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Naturalized citizens of Canada Norfolk Admirals players Phoenix Coyotes players Phoenix Roadrunners (IHL) players Russian emigrants to Canada Russian ice hockey centres St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players Soviet ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Moscow Toronto Maple Leafs players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players Victims of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash Burials at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto Russian expatriate ice hockey people Russian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Canadian ice hockey coaches Russian ice hockey coaches People from Zelenograd