2007 and subsequently demoted to the Rangers' affiliate in Hartford. Kasparaitis was once again waived by the Rangers prior to the 2007–08 season. On November 3, 2007, the Rangers announced that Kasparaitis had been loaned to SKA St. Petersburg of the then-Russian Superleague (RSL), now the KHL. The deal was made possible due to a lack of a transfer agreement between Russia and North America at the time. However, the Rangers retained his NHL rights. Kasparaitis left an enduring impression with Ranger fans with the team salute that he created. After every Rangers home win, Kasparaitis would direct the players to center ice and have the whole team follow in saluting the fans by raising their sticks in the air before departing the ice. The tradition is still carried on by the Rangers for every home win. He continued to play for SKA Saint Petersburg in the 2008–09 season. In 26 games, he contributed a single assist. In the 2009–10 season, he did not play due to an injury and eventually announced his retirement at the conclusion of the season. Since his retirement he has attempted to become eligible to represent Lithuania internationally, which he finally did in 2018, playing for the team in the World Ice Hockey Championships Division 1B. Playing style Kasparaitis played the game in the mold of a hard-hitting stay-at-home defenceman, a playing style which in Kasparaitis's case also included a substantial amount of agitation. In his rookie season in the NHL in 1992–93, he had already earned a reputation as a pesky player; one hockey pundit at the time wrote that he "shows an unusual lack of respect and deference for established NHL stars." One such star was Pittsburgh Penguins captain Mario Lemieux; in Game 6 of the Patrick Division finals during the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs, Kasparaitis was "in Lemieux's face" for much of the game, at one point giving him a glove to the face and eventually earning a 2-minute elbowing penalty. During the 1997–98 season, while a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kasparaitis decked Philadelphia Flyers captain Eric Lindros along the boards with a hard and straight hit to the chest, a hit which left Lindros with a concussion and held him out of the game for over a month. The two players later became teammates and friends when Kasparaitis signed with the New York Rangers for the 2002–03 season, with Lindros