Pavol Demitra
Pavol Demitra ( born November 29, 1974 in Dubnica nad Váhom, Czechoslovakia; † 7 September 2011 in Tunoschna near Yaroslavl, Russia) was a Slovak ice hockey player who during his career, among other things, for the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League and played Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Kontinental Hockey League on the position of the center.
Career
Demitra started his professional career in 1992 at the Slovak first division club HC Dukla Trenčín. Here, the Ottawa Senators were aware of him and secured the rights to him when she chose him in the ninth round NHL Entry Draft 1993 227th place.
As early as next year he moved to the 1993/94 season to North America. In the three years he spent with the Senator, he was only sporadically used in the NHL and spent the most time in the farm team at the Prince Edward Iceland Senators in the American Hockey League. The season 1996/97 he spent mostly in the International Hockey League in Las Vegas Thunder and the Grand Rapids Griffins. Only at the end of the season he was used by his new NHL team, the St. Louis Blues.
In his first full season, 1997/98 in St. Louis, he was able to fight for a regular place and the following year he made the breakthrough when he was able to achieve 89 points scorer. In the season 2002/ 03 he could, now as key player of the blues, this record improve to 93 points.
The strike season 2004/ 05 he spent back in his hometown club Dukla Trenčín.
From the 2005/06 season he played with the Los Angeles Kings and counted there as well in his first season back at the best scorers although he only played 58 of 82 games. For the 2006/07 season was Pavol Demitra of the Los Angeles King in exchange for Patrick O'Sullivan and a first round pick to the Minnesota Wild exits. After two years in Minnesota, the center forward moved to 2008/ 09 to the Vancouver Canucks.
In the summer of 2010 he was engaged by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. September 7, 2011 Pavol Demitra died in a plane crash near Yaroslavl. After his death, his jersey number # 38 was blocked by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation for all national teams.