Dmitri Yushkevich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Position Defense
Shot Right
Height
Weight
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
212 lb (96 kg/15 st 2 lb)
Pro clubs Philadelphia Flyers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
Nationality Flag of Russia Russia
Born November 19, 1971 (1971-11-19) (age 36),
Cherepovets, U.S.S.R.
NHL Draft 122nd overall, 1991
Philadelphia Flyers
Pro career 1988 – 2008
Olympic medal record
Men’s Ice Hockey
Gold 1992 Ice Hockey
Silver 1998 Ice Hockey

Dmitri Sergeyevich Yushkevich (Russian: Дмитрий Сергеевич Юшкевич; born November 19, 1971 in Cherepovets, U.S.S.R.) is a retired Russian professional ice hockey defenseman.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

He was drafted in the sixth round, 122nd overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. After many productive seasons in the NHL, he returned to the Russian Hockey Super League in 2003.

After winning a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics Yushkevich made his NHL debut with the Flyers in the 1992-93 season. He appeared in 82 games in his rookie season, tallying five goals and adding 27 assists. After three seasons with the Flyers, Yushkevich joined the Toronto Maple Leafs before the 1995-96 season.

In Toronto, Yushkevich blossomed in to a top-pair caliber NHL defenseman, particularly under the guidance of coach Pat Quinn, who joined the team in 1998. Between 1998-99 and 2001-02, Yushkevich also emerged as the leader of the Leafs' defense corps. During the 1999 playoffs, Yushkevich paired up with Danny Markov to neutralize Penguins' superstar Jaromir Jagr, thus helping the Leafs advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Yushkevich earned a spot in the 2000 NHL All-Star game which took place in Toronto. In February 2002, Yushkevich was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood clot. As a result, Yushkevich was forced to miss the rest of the 2001-02 season. Despite Yushkevich's pleas to accept the risk and re-join the club in time for the playoffs, he was not cleared to play by the team. As a Leaf, Yushkevich totalled 506 regular season games, and 44 playoff games. His performances with the Leafs earned him a reputation of a warrior, a grinder and an expert shot-blocker. He was traded to the Florida Panthers before the 2002-03 season for Robert Svehla.

After only 23 games with the Panthers, Yushkevich was traded again. The Los Angeles Kings acquired him, along with a draft pick, in exchange for Andreas Lilja and Jaroslav Bednar. Yushkevich would join his third team of the 2002-03 season in March, when the Kings traded him back to Philadelphia for a pair of draft picks.

In the 2003-04 season, Yushkevich returned to Russia to play for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superleague. He then joined his hometown Severstal Cherepovets for the 2004-05 season, before moving onto Metallurg Magnitogorsk for the 2005-06 season. For the 2006-07 season, he played for SKA St. Petersburg. He last played for Severstal Cherepovets.

He decided to retire in January, 2008, after the death of his 1st wife Oksana, so that he could care for their 3 children.[1]

Yushkevich was a member of the Russian team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, earning a silver medal.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts +/- PIM GP G A Pts +/- PIM
1992-93 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 82 5 27 32 12 71 -- -- -- -- -- --
1993-94 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 75 5 25 30 -8 86 -- -- -- -- -- --
1994-95 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 40 5 9 14 -4 47 15 1 5 6 -2 12
1995-96 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 69 1 10 11 -14 54 4 0 0 0 1 0
1996-97 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 74 4 10 14 -24 56 -- -- -- -- -- --
1997-98 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 72 0 12 12 -13 78 -- -- -- -- -- --
1998-99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 78 6 22 28 25 88 17 1 5 6 7 22
1999-00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 77 3 24 27 2 55 12 1 1 2 4 4
2000-01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 81 5 19 24 -2 52 11 0 4 4 -4 12
2001-02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 55 6 13 19 14 26 0 0 0 0 0 0
2002-03 Florida Panthers NHL 23 1 6 7 -12 14 -- -- -- -- -- --
2002-03 Los Angeles Kings NHL 42 0 3 3 -4 24 -- -- -- -- -- --
2002-03 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 18 2 2 4 7 8 13 1 4 5 7 2
NHL Totals 786 43 182 255 -21 659 72 4 19 23 13 52


[edit] Awards

  • Champion of SNG: 1992 (With Dinamo)
  • NHL All-Star Game winner: 2000
  • Russian champion: 2007 (With Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
  • Winner of Turnir Puchkova: 2007

[edit] External links

[edit] References

"Russian Warrior forced to Quit", International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 

"Toronto Maple Leafs - Dmitry Yushkevich", Toronto Maple Leafs. Retrieved on 2008-05-10.