Skrastiņš started playing hockey at the age of five at "Dinamo" sports school, where he learned the basics of the game. He started his professional career in 1991 as part of HK Riga "Pārdaugava", competing in both the first and second league championships of the USSR. The young defender spent three seasons in Pārdaugava. Two years later, he and the team fought for the Latvian championship title. Helmut Hinzenberg, the first coach: "I had enough guys in the team who wanted to run forward, but I needed someone who I could rely on when thinking about the safety of my goal. Karlis didn't pray terribly, and it stayed that way. Would he fit in the attack? Of course! About goalkeeper too". In the summer of 1995, Skrastiņš joined the SM league champion team Turku "TPS", whose head coach at that time was the consultant of the Latvian national team Vladimirs Jurzinovs. "TPS" of the debut year with the Skrastini team lost to the champion "Jokerit" in the silver medal final of the Finnish championship. Karlis played for TPS until the 1998 NHL draft, when he was selected by the Nashville Predators with the overall number 230. "TPS" from Skrastiņš participated in 175 games, scoring 12 goals and providing 40 assists. Skrastiņš made his debut as part of the National Hockey League club Nashville "Predators" on February 9, 1999, ending the match with the best pass and 16 minutes spent. Skrastiņš spent five seasons in "Predators", in none of those teams did he manage to specialize in Stanley Cup games. In the summer of 2003, Skrastin's contract with the Nashville club had expired, and on June 30, "Predators" traded the rights to Skrastin to the Colorado Avalanche. On February 8, 2007, K. Skrastiņš had already played 487 games in a row since February 21, 2000, and the previous Tim Horton's record for the last played NHL games among defensemen. After three and a half seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, he was traded to the Florida Panthers on February 26, 2008. On July 29, Karla signed 75 million US at the beginning of the 20th. July contract with NHL club Dallas "Stars". On June 28, 2011, he signed a contract with the KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. On September 7, 2011, a Yak-42 plane crashed in Russia, carrying the players of Yaroslavl "Lokomotiv", including Skrastins. The plane crashed at 16.02 Moscow time, 2.5 km from Tunosh Airport, which is located nearby from Yaroslavl, Russia. on the same day, it was only officially announced that Kārlis Skrastiņš had died in a plane crash.
#latvia #skrastiņš #hockey #iron man #nhl
1 апр 2024
