Denis Shvidki

Playing career

Shvidki first played in the 1994 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament as part of a team from Kharkiv. He spent two seasons with Torpedo Yaroslavl in the Russian Superleague before crossing to North America for the 1998–99 season, joining the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. After two years with the Colts, he played the 2000–01 season with the Louisville Panthers, Florida’s AHL affiliate, and also got into 43 NHL games with the Panthers that year, putting up six goals and ten assists. He then split another three seasons between Florida and its minor league teams. When the 2004–05 NHL lockout hit, Shvidki went back to Russia and played there afterward. In October 2009, reports said he would transfer to Kärpät Oulu in Finland for the rest of the season, but he was let go after a month-long tryout. He played the 2012–13 season, his third in the DEL, with the Hannover Scorpions. On May 21, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with the 2nd Bundesliga’s Heilbronner Falken, but was released before ever playing for them, finishing his pro career in Russia’s lower leagues. In mid-2015, Shvidki joined the Florida Jr. Panthers as a coach and remained with that organization through the end of the 2016–17 season.