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

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player. Skrastiņš was drafted by the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (colloquially referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Predators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Divisio ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

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 l ...

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. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

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

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for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). However, he never got to play a game for Lokomotiv as he was killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash 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. 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 (N ...

, he scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded 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 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 with a knee injury. He had previously missed only one other game due to injury in his career — against St. Louis 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 Florida Panthers for Ruslan Salei (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 compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

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 Dallas Stars 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 passenger aircraft, carrying nearly the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, crashed just outside Yaroslavl, Russia. The team was traveling to

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

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 for Latvia Ice hockey people from Riga HC TPS players Victims of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland