The New York Rangers are seeking a compensatory selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft for the loss of Alexei Cherepanov, who died during a game in Russia.
The 19-year-old star of Avangard Omsk, in the Continental Hockey League (KHL), died suddenly,last October, after collapsing on his team's bench, during a KHL game in Checkhov, not far from Moscow.
Rangers GM Glen Sather claims the Rangers should receive the 17th selection in the second round of June's draft as compensation for losing Cherepanov, the 17th overall selection in the 2006 Draft.
The New York Rangers drafted Cherepanov with their first selection, 17th overall, in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
Nicknamed the Siberian Express, Cherepanov was in his third season with Avangard, in Siberia. In his rookie season in the Russian Superleague, Cherepanov had more points than Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk did respectively, at the age of 17. Cherepanov beat the Russian league rookie goal scoring record previously held by Pavel Bure.
Cherepanov was drafted 17th overall despite being considered a top five prospect because of the lack of a new transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation concerning players in the Russian Hockey Federation.
He played a shift with teammate Jaromír Jágr, and the two were talking on the bench shortly after they left the ice, when he suddenly collapsed.
He had a two-on-one situation with Jagr on his final shift. He scored a goal earlier in the game.
The Federal Investigative Committee in Russia announced that Cherepanov engaged in doping, according to Wikipedia, and official sources have stated the banned substance taken was nikethamide, a stimulant, taken before the game.
Cherepanov's team was found negligent, according to an AP report.
The KHL issued indefinite suspensions to the general manager, the president, and team doctor Avangard Omsk, citing criminal negligence for their roles in the death of Alexei Cherepanov.
The indefinite suspensions of Avangard's general manager, Anatoly Bardin; its president, Konstantin Potapov; and one of its team doctors, Sergei Belkin, as well as of Vityaz Chekhov's president, Mikhail Denisov, were announced one day after Cherepanov would have turned 20. Another Avangard team doctor, Dmitry Batushenko, was suspended for two years.
Vladimir Shalaev, a KHL VP, said Avangard doctors and team directors should have known that Cherepanov had a potentially fatal heart condition and it should have prevented him from playing hockey.
Shalaev also said Cherepanov was given a banned performance-enhancing drug, which was found in his system during an autopsy.
Cherepanov died shortly after his heart failed as he sat on the bench alongside his teammate Jaromir Jagr at the end of a game against Vityaz Chekhov. He went into cardiac arrest
Doctors arrived on the scene a full 12 minutes after Cherepanov collapsed, according to the Canadian Press.
Efforts to revive Cherepanov were slow because there were no ambulances or working defibrillators at the Chekhov arena.
The ambulance usually stationed in the arena had already left the building and had to be recalled.
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