Konstantin Yevgeniyevich Koltsov ( be, Канстанцін Яўгенавіч Кальцоў, translit=Kanstancin Jaŭhienavič Kaĺcoŭ; April 17, 1981 – March 18, 2024) was a Belarusian professional ice hockey player. He played parts of three seasons with the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

of 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) between 2002 and 2006. Internationally, Koltsov played for the Belarusian national team at the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

and at nine

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. He served as an assistant coach for

Salavat Yulaev Ufa Hockey Club Salavat Yulaev (russian: Хоккейный клуб «Салават Юлаев», Hokkejnyj klub «Salavat Julajev»; ba, «Салауат Юлаев» хоккей клубы, «Salawat Yulayev» xokkey klubı), commonly referred ...

in 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 ...

as well as head coach for the Belarusian national team.

Early life

Koltsov was born on April 17, 1981, in

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 ...

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

USSR 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 nationa ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

). He was raised there and at an early age pursued a dream to become a professional hockey player. He was born to Alexander and Natalia Koltsov who are both parents who ensured life was smooth.

Playing career

Koltsov started playing for Junactva Minsk in the Belarusian 1st division during the 1997–98 season and moved to the Russian team

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 next season. Due to his speed and stick handling, he was often referred to as the "Russian Rocket II" because of his similar playing style to that of Russian great

Pavel Bure Pavel Vladimirovich Bure (russian: Па́вел Влади́мирович Буре́, ; born March 31, 1971) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "the Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bu ...

. Koltsov was drafted to the

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 ...

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 tale ...

as the

' first round pick, 18th overall. He played for the

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, and are the AHL affiliates of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre ...

in the AHL in the 2002–03 season and started playing full-time for the

in the 2003–04 season, playing 82 games and scoring nine goals and 20 assists. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, Koltsov played for the

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

hockey team, scoring six goals in 31 games. The following season, Koltsov moved between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh until January, after which he stayed in the NHL until the end of the season, finishing with three goals and six assists. As a result of the Penguins not extending a qualifying offer, Koltsov became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2006. In August 2006, he returned to Russia, signing to play for

of 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 ...

. During the 2007–08 RSL season, Koltsov was part of a Salavat Yulaev Ufa squad that defeated

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) ...

to capture the RSL league title. With the absorption of the RSL into the newly formed

at the start of the 2008–09 season, Salavat Yulaev Ufa would become the last standing RSL champion. With Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Koltsov won the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

throughout the 2010–11 season. On November 27, 2016, Koltsov retired from professional hockey after competing for 18 seasons. He became an assistant for the Belarusian men's hockey team and also worked as the assistant coach of Salavat Yulaev Ufa, where he served for two seasons prior to his death.

International play

Internationally, Koltsov played on the Belarus national team in the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

and

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

Personal life and death

Koltsov had three children with his former wife, Julia. They divorced in 2020. He began publicly dating Belarusian tennis player

Aryna Sabalenka Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...

in June 2021. Koltsov and Sabalenka were separated at the time of his death. Koltsov's former club Salavat Yulaev announced his death on March 18, 2024. He was 42. The

Miami-Dade Police Department The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), formerly known as the Metro-Dade Police Department (1981–1997), Dade County Public Safety Department (1957–1981), and the Dade County Sheriff's Office (1836–1957), is a county police department ser ...

said it was an apparent suicide and that Koltsov had jumped from a balcony at

The St. Regis Bal Harbour The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort is a luxury resort in Bal Harbour, Florida. It is situated across from the Bal Harbour Shops and is known for its proximity to Miami's South Beach. In January 2014, the Qatar-based Al Faisal Holding Company LLC acqu ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

*Spartak Cup ''(russian: Кубок Спартака)'' : 2001 *President of Bashkortostan Republic Cup ''(russian: Кубок Президента Республики Башкортостан)'' : 2006 *Romazan Cup ''(russian: Кубок Ромазана)'' : 2006 *

Polesye Polesia, Polesie, or Polesye, uk, Полісся (Polissia), pl, Polesie, russian: Полесье (Polesye) is a natural and historical region that starts from the farthest edge of Central Europe and encompasses Eastern Europe, including East ...

Cup ''(russian: Кубок Полесья, be, Кубак Палесся)'' : 2007 *

: 2008 Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koltsov, Konstantin 1981 births 2024 deaths 2024 suicides Ak Bars Kazan players Atlant Moscow Oblast players Belarusian ice hockey right wingers Belarusian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia HC Dinamo Minsk players Metallurg Novokuznetsk players Severstal Cherepovets players HC Spartak Moscow players NHL first-round draft picks Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Belarus Ice hockey people from Minsk Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Pittsburgh Penguins players Salavat Yulaev Ufa players Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players Suicides by jumping in Florida 21st-century Belarusian people 20th-century Belarusian people