[ConservativeStatement]

Manhy former NHL players on board. R.I.P. Horrible event.

[Red Badger]

Rest in Peace, guys............

[moovova]

Oh man...that’s bad. My prayers go out to the players and their families.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The KHL has gotten off to a sad start in it’s brief history.
Two seasons ago a top NHL prospect playing there collapsed and died on the bench. There were not adequate medical facilities at the arena and an ambulance took 30 minutes to get there.

Pavol Demitra was probably the best known ex-NHLer on their roster. RIP.

[RitchieAprile]

My God! Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins..

RIP

[Moose4]

Horrible, horrible news. The airplane was apparently a Yakovlev Yak-42, a Russian-built 120-seat regional airliner.

The KHL’s gotten a fair bit of NHL talent in the past few years. I think Ray Emery played at least one season in the KHL, and wasn’t Jaromir Jagr there for a bit as well?

}:-)4

[CSM]

“The team’s head coach, Brad McCrimmon, played in the NHL and most recently served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings before taking the Yaroslavl job in May. The Russian Times confirmed that McCrimmon also died in the crash.

Defensemen Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, as well as forwards Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek all spent a good deal of time in the NHL and were listed on the most current roster on the KHL website. Forward Alexander Vasyunov played in 18 games with the New Jersey Devils this past season.”

MItten ping....

[Beowulf9]

This is really sad, but I wonder if the plane should not have been up for flights. Russia’s airline industry is perhaps broke, makes me fear for the future of our safety on planes, as the airlines are being hit with so many regulations they have to be losing money. Where will they cut?

[GreenLanternCorps]

Horrific. But not surprising on a Russian airliner.

The CBC has a list of some notable sports team crashes, including the Manchester United, US Figure Skating Team, and Marshall University football team crashes.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2011/09/07/spf-sports-air.html

Many years back there was a bus crash involving the then California Angels’ team bus. Not many injuries as I recall, but the news item I heard mentioned the MLB had contingency plans for fatal accidents involving an MLB team. If needed, it would include an emergency draft to replace a team with players from other teams, if a team was completely wiped out in a crash.