Kārlis Skrastiņš (July 9, 1974 – September 7, 2011) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n 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. Skrastiņš was drafted by the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

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 ...

in 1998 as a

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

and spent twelve years in the league playing for the Predators, the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

, the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

, and the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

. For the 2011-2012 season, Skrastiņš left the NHL and signed a contract to play in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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

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). However, he never got to play a game for Lokomotiv as he 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 ...

that killed almost the entire team on September 7, 2011.

Playing career

Skrastiņš was drafted by

with the 230th pick in the ninth round of

1998 NHL Entry Draft The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was the 36th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Brian Gionta, Mi ...

. On October 15, 2002, against the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

, he scored a 5-on-3

shorthanded Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer skaters (players) on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the pe ...

goal. He played for Nashville for five seasons until being traded to the

in 2003. On February 8, 2007, he played in his 487th consecutive game to pass

Tim Horton Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton (January 12, 1930 – February 21, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburg ...

for the longest playing streak in NHL history for a defenceman. Skrastiņš' streak ended at 495 games, when he missed a February 25, 2007 game against the

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center. ...

with a knee injury. He had previously missed only one other game due to injury in his career — against

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

on February 18, 2000, with a minor shoulder injury. The streak led to him being given the nickname "Ironman". In his fourth season with the Avalanche in 2007–08, he was traded to the

for

Ruslan Salei Ruslan Albertovich Salei ( Belarusian: Руслан Альбертавіч Салей; Russian: Руслан Альбертович Салей; November 2, 1974 – September 7, 2011) was a Belarusian professional ice hockey player. Salei pla ...

(who also died in the Lokomotiv plane crash) on February 26, 2008. In his first full season with the Panthers in 2008–09, Skrastiņš scored a career high 18 points in 80 games. On October 16, 2008, he played his 600th career NHL game against the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

and on November 1, 2008, he scored his 100th point in his NHL career in a 3–2 loss fittingly against his original club, the Nashville Predators. On July 2, 2009, he was signed by the

to a two-year contract worth $2.75 million. He scored his only two goals of the 2009–10 season, including the game winner, on December 19 in a 4–3 Stars victory over the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. On May 17, 2011, after eleven seasons in the NHL, Skrastiņš left to sign a contract with

n team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Death

Skrastins died on September 7, 2011, 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, carrying nearly the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team,

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

just outside Yaroslavl, Russia. The team was traveling 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, with its coaching staff and prospects. Lokomotiv officials said "'everyone from the main roster was on the plane plus four players from the youth team.'"

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skrastins, Karlis 1974 births 2011 deaths Colorado Avalanche players Dallas Stars players Florida Panthers players Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Latvian ice hockey defencemen Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players Nashville Predators draft picks Nashville Predators players Olympic ice hockey players of Latvia Ice hockey people from Riga HC TPS players Victims of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Latvian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian expatriate ice hockey people