Detroit Red Wings: Plane Crash Kills Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei and Stefan Liv

Amidst what was already a tragic summer for the NHL, a devastating blow has been dealt to the game itself and the Detroit Red Wings in particular.

This summer, enforcers Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak all died from apparent suicides linked to ongoing battles with depression.

As the league, players and fans are still seeking answers as to what, if anything, can be done to prevent such tragedy in the future, an even larger tragedy has taken center stage.

37 team members of Lokomotiv of the Kontinental Hockey League were killed Tuesday en route to their season opener against Dynamo Minsk when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

Among the dead was former NHL star, Pavol Demitra, and several former NHL players, including Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek and Karlis Skrastins.

However, the Detroit Red Wings appear to be the one NHL team with the strongest ties to this tragedy.

Three former Detroit Red Wings are now gone.

Brad McCrimmon was a defenseman for the Red Wings from 1990-93 and was in fact the first partner of current Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom.

McCrimmon returned to the team in 2008-09 as an assistant coach, charged with managing the team's defensive corps.

Earlier this summer, the team and McCrimmon amicably parted ways, which allowed him to pursue a head coaching job in the KHL.

McCrimmon's long-term plans were to secure a head coaching position in the NHL, and saw his job in the KHL as a step towards achieving that goal.

Ruslan Salei was signed last summer on a one-year deal that saw him fill the void left by Andreas Lilja.

Salei took on the sixth defenseman role and turned in a decent season as a reliable, stat-at-home defenseman.

Salei had a history with Detroit head coach Mike Babcock as he was a defender for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim during Babcock's tenure with the same team.

In March, Salei spent additional time with his family, who remained in Anaheim even after he left the Ducks, as his wife gave birth the the family's third daughter.

Stefan Liv was drafted by the Wings in the third round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

At the time, his athleticism and unorthodox style of play reminded some of Dominik Hasek and the Red Wings hoped he would figure into their future as a starting netminder.

Though he remained in the organization's plans for the next several years, singing a one-year deal in 2006, Liv never cracked the big club and played just 34 games with the Wings' AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins.

Despite him never joining the Red Wings as a roster player, several current Wings knew Liv well through his association with the AHL team and through international play.

A tragedy of this sort is always a painful event.

That the majority of the dead were hockey players, makes it no more tragic than if they were business commuters.

Innocent people dying is terrible, no matter what their profession.

However, the hockey world has undergone a continuous barrage of tragedy this summer, the repercussion of which will surely linger on as the season gets underway next month.

Though Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei and Stefan Liv had all moved on past their days in the Detroit organization, they were all Red Wings, once.

They will be missed.