Darius Kasparaitis
Template: Infobox Eishockeyspieler/Ländercode2Vorlage: Infobox ice hockey player / file type
Darius Wladowitsch Kasparaitis (Russian Дарюс Владович Каспарайтис; born October 16, 1972 in Elektrėnai, Lithuanian SSR) is a Lithuanian ice hockey player and coach with Russian and American citizenship. During his active career he played Between 1992 and 2007 more than 850 games for the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
At the age of 41 years, some five years after his official career ended, he joined as a player in the first division Lithuanian Hockey Punks Vilnius.
- 2.1 International
- 3.1 International
Career
Darius Kasparaitis began his career as a hockey player in the junior department of the HK Dynamo Moscow, for its first team he made his debut in the Wysschaja League, the highest Soviet league was in the 1988/89 season. With the team he was in the season 1990/91 Soviet masters, and in the season 1991/92 CIS champion. He was then selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1992 in the first round as the fifth overall player of the New York Islanders. First, the defender, the 1992/93 season began again with Dynamo Moscow in the International Hockey League newly established. In this he scored seven games a goal and three assists, and then the New York Islanders beorderten him to North America. By the end of the season he scored in his rookie year in the National Hockey League in a total of 97 games four goals and 22 templates and reached with his team, the Conference Finals, where he later Stanley Cup champion Canadiens de Montréal was defeated with his team. Also in the following years he was among the permanent employees at the Islanders.
After he started the 1996/97 season with the New York Islanders, he was released on 17 November 1996, at Andreas Johansson in exchange for Bryan Smolinski to the Pittsburgh Penguins. With these he achieved in the 2000 /01 season also the Conference Finals. Shortly before the end of the Trade Deadline, he was transferred to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in March 2002 in exchange for Ville Nieminen and Rick Berry. With the " Avs " he came in the 2001/ 02 season, also not about the Conference Finals addition. Overall, he was in 32 games for Colorado three assists. He subsequently received a contract as a free agent with the New York Rangers, where he was for two years to the guide players before he spent with Ak Bars Kazan in the Russian Super League during the lockout, the 2004/05 season. Following the resumption of gaming operations in the NHL, he returned to the New York Rangers back in which he only sporadically in the NHL came in the 2006/07 season to use and instead of twelve times for their farm team Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League played. In these he also started the 2007/08 season, but moved after only four games for SKA Saint Petersburg in the Russian Super League. In St. Petersburg, he ended following the 2008/ 09 season in the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League at the age of 37 years of his career.
After end of his career as an active player Kasparaitis became the 2010/11 season assistant coach at his former club SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. In this position he held until his release on December 22, 2010. About five years after his official career end of the 41 -year-old Kasparaitis closed early February 2014 the first division Lithuanian Hockey Punks Vilnius as a player.
Internationally
For the Soviet Union Kasparaitis took part in the U18 European Junior Championships in 1990 and the U20 World Youth Championship in 1991 at junior level. In the U18 European Championship 1990, he won the silver medal with his team and was elected even in the All-Star Team of the tournament. In 1991 he also won the silver medal at the U20 World Cup with the Soviet Union. The United team, he was at the Olympic Winter Games in 1992 in Albertville Olympic champion. After the Olympic victory, he was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Russia. For Russia, he took part in the U20 World Youth Championship in 1992, when he was awarded his team world champion and as the best defender of the tournament as well as the World Championships in 1992 and 1996 and the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 in part. In addition, he was in the squad of Russia at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake City and Torino 2006. At the Winter Games in 1998 he won the silver at the 2002 Winter Olympics bronze medal with the Russians.
Awards and achievements
Internationally
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented the USSR at:
- U18 European Junior Championships 1990
- U20 World Junior Championships 1991
- U20 World Junior Championships 1992
Represented the United team on:
- Winter Olympics 1992
Represented in the CIS:
- World Cup 1992
Represented Russia at:
- World Cup 1996
- World Cup of Hockey 1996
- 1998 Winter Olympics
- 2002 Winter Olympics
- World Cup of Hockey 2004
- 2006 Winter Olympics
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )