Brief biographical sketches of some of the victims of the crash Wednesday of a plane carrying members of Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, a Russian team based in the Kontinental Hockey League.
• Saskatchewan native Brad McCrimmon, 52, took the head coaching job with Yaroslavl this spring. He played in the NHL from 1979 to 1997 with the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, Hartford Whalers, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes. He had 81 goals, 322 assists and 1,416 penalty minutes in 1,222 regular season games and was a member of the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning team in Calgary.
• Alexander Karpovtsev, 41, played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and the Florida Panthers. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup after the Rangers’ win in 1994.
• Igor Korolev, turned 41 on Tuesday. He played more close to 800 games in the NHL after he was drafted in 1992 By St. Louis. He played with the Blues and the Winnipeg Jets — staying with the team during its move to Phoenix. He spent four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and also played in Chicago before he returned to his birthplace, Russia, to play with Lokomotiv. He was assistant coach of the team at the time of his death.
• Pavol Demitra, 36, played 16 seasons in the NHL before he signed with Lokomotiv in 2010. He began his career with the Ottawa Senators in 1993 and played for the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Canucks. Former hockey teammates said Demitra would often bring his kids to the arena while they practised.
• Karel Rachunek, 32, was drafted in 1997 by the Ottawa Senators and appeared in a handful of Sens games in 1999 before joining the team for three more seasons. He also played for the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.
• Ruslan Salei, 36, a veteran defenceman, played in more than 900 NHL games in 14 seasons with the NHL since he was drafted in 1996 by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He also played for the Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers. He once scored an overtime goal in the Stanley Final Cup. He joined the KHL in the 2011-2012 season, which would have been his first season.
• Karlis Skrastins, from Latvia, played 11 seasons in the NHL before joining Lokomotiv in 2011. On Feb. 8, 2007, when he was with the Colorado Avalanche, he played in his 487th consecutive game to pass Tim Horton for the longest playing streak in NHL history for a defenceman. During his NHL career, he also donned the jersey of the Nashville Predators, the Florida Panthers and the Dallas Stars.
• Swedish player Stefan Liv, 30, was an Olympic and world champion in 2006. The goalkeeper was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 2000, played 133 times for Sweden, and won three Swedish championships with former club HV71.
• Josef Vasicek was five days short of his 31st birthday. He was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998 and helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 2006. He also played for the Nashville Predators and the New York Islanders before he joined the Russian team in 2008.
