2006, Salei signed a four-year, $12 million contract with the Florida Panthers. He quickly settled with the Panthers with his most productive season in 2006–07, totalling 32 points (6 goals and 26 assists) in 82 regular season games. He continued his new-found offensive production in 2007–08, and as the Panthers fell out of contention for the 2008 playoffs, on February 26, 2008, Salei was traded at the NHL trade deadline to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Kārlis Skrastiņš and a third-round draft pick. As a veteran and in his first full season with the Avalanche in 2008–09, Salei finished second among defencemen with 21 points in 70 games. He appeared in his 800th career NHL game against the St. Louis Blues on January 15, 2009 and surpassed 1,000 career penalty minutes against the Minnesota Wild on March 12, 2009. Ruslan suffered a back injury to start the 2009–10 season, forcing him to miss 56 games. He was able to recover in time to lead Belarus in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but was relegated as a reserve defenceman upon his return to the Avalanche, playing in a career-low 14 games. On August 9, 2010, the Detroit Red Wings announced that it had signed Salei as a free agent to a one-year, $750,000 contract worth an additional $350,000 in potential performance bonuses. According to Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, Salei's positive experiences under then Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock (Salei's former head coach in Anaheim) contributed to his decision. Salei scored two goals paired with eight assists during that season, as well as one goal during the 2011 playoffs in Detroit's first-round matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes. On July 5, 2011, Salei signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Death On September 7, 2011, at 4:02 PM local time, a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger aircraft, carrying nearly the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, crashed near Yaroslavl, Russia, en route to Minsk, Belarus, to begin the 2011–12 season. Of the 45 passengers and crew on board, 44 were killed, including Salei. Awards Belarus player of the year (2003, 2004) IIHF Hall of Fame inductee (2014) Career statistics Regular season and playoffs International See also List of ice hockey players who died during their playing career References External links 1974 births 2011 deaths Ak Bars Kazan players Baltimore Bandits players Belarusian ice hockey defencemen