Ruslan Fedotenko

Ruslan Viktorovych Fedotenko (born January 18, 1979) is a Ukrainian former professional ice hockey winger.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion, in his National Hockey League (NHL) career he played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. Internationally, Fedotenko has competed for Ukraine in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Playing career As a youth, Fedotenko played in the 1993 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Ukraine.

Start in the NHL

Fedotenko was not drafted. He first entered the NHL after being signed by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1999. Withe the Flyers, he scored the overtime winning goal in game one of the 2002 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals against the Ottawa Senators during the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tampa Bay Lightning and first Stanley Cup win After two seasons with the Flyers, he was traded in 2002 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, along with two second-round draft picks, in exchange for Tampa Bay's first-round draft pick, which was used to draft Joni Pitkänen.

In 2004, Fedotenko won the Stanley Cup for the first time, scoring both Lightning goals in game seven of the Finals against the Calgary Flames. It was Tampa Bay's first Stanley Cup in franchise history. After a career-high 26-goal, 41-point campaign in 2005–06, Fedotenko was re-signed as a restricted free agent in July 2006 to a one-year contract worth $1.65 million.

New York Islanders Following his fourth season in Tampa Bay, Fedotenko signed a one-year, $2.9 million contract with the New York Islanders in July 2007, joining Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin as the Islanders' free agent acquisitions. He scored 33 points in his first and only season with the Islanders.

Pittsburgh Penguins and second Stanley Cup win The following off-season, Fedotenko signed his third consecutive one-year contract, a $2.25 million deal with Pittsburgh Penguins in July 2008. Fedotenko neared career-high totals with 39 points in 65 games, benefiting as a winger on a talented Penguins team that featured centers Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. He went on to tally 14 points in 24 post-season games with the Penguins in 2009, capturing his second career Stanley Cup as Pittsburgh defeated the Detroit Red Wings in seven games. After becoming an unrestricted free agent in July 2009, Fedotenko took a pay cut and agreed to a one-year, $1.8 million contract to remain with the Penguins.

New York Rangers On 10 September 2010, Fedotenko accepted a try-out with the New York Rangers. After an impressive preseason, the Rangers signed Fedotenko to a one-year $1 million deal on 4 October 2010.

On 1 July 2011, Fedotenko re-signed with the Rangers, accepting a one-year, $1.4 million contract.

Later career On 5 July 2012, Fedotenko returned to where his NHL career began and signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers for $1.75 million. During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Fedotenko played for the Kontinental Hockey League's HC Donbass. Following the 2012–13 NHL season, Fedotenko signed a three-year, $9 million contract with Donbass.

Due to the Russo-Ukrainian war, he returned to the United States at the conclusion of the 2013–14 KHL season.

On 20 January 2015, Fedotenko signed a professional try out contract with the Iowa Wild. To end the 2014–15 season, Fedotenko registered 3 goals in 13 games with Iowa. On 1 July 2015, Fedotenko signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with Iowa's parent affiliate, the Minnesota Wild.

On 11 October 2016, Fedotenko announced his retirement from professional hockey. Fedotenko finished his career as a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, played in a total of 863 NHL games with five different NHL teams, scored 173 goals and registered 193 assists, totaling 366 points.

International play Fedotenko has played internationally for the Ukrainian national ice hockey team, appearing in one game for his nation at the 2002 Winter Olympics in a 5–2 defeat of Switzerland.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular Season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1995–96 Sokil Kyiv IHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1995–96 Sokil Kyiv EEHL 33 9 11 20 12 — — — — — 1996–97 TPS FIN U18 3 3 2 5 2 — — — — — 1996–97 TPS FIN Jr 11 1 1 2 2 — — — — — 1996–97 Turku HT FIN III — — — — — 3 1 0 1 2 1996–97 Kiekko-67 FIN II 22 4 3 7 16 — — — — — 1997–98 Melfort Mustangs SJHL 68 35 31 66 55 4 0 2 2 2 1998–99 Sioux City Musketeers USHL 55 43 34 77 139 5 5 1 6 9 1999–2000 Trenton Titans ECHL 8 5 3 8 9 — — — — — 1999–2000 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 67 16 34 50 42 2 0 0 0 0 2000–01 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 8 1 0 1 8 — — — — — 2000–01 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 16 20 36 72 6 0 1 1 4 2001–02 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 78 17 9 26 43 5 1 0 1 2 2002–03 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 76 19 13 32 44 11 0 1 1 2 2003–04 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 77 17 22 39 30 22 12 2 14 14 2005–06 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 80 26 15 41 44 5 0 0 0 20 2006–07 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 80 12 20 32 52 4 0 0 0 4 2007–08 New York Islanders NHL 67 16 17 33 40 — — — — — 2008–09 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 65 16 23 39 44 24 7 7 14 4 2009–10 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 11 19 30 50 6 0 0 0 4 2010–11 New York Rangers NHL 66 10 15 25 25 5 0 2 2 4 2011–12 New York Rangers NHL 73 9 11 20 16 20 2 5 7 8 2012–13 Donbass Donetsk KHL 33 8 10 18 22 — — — — — 2012–13 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 47 4 9 13 12 — — — — — 2013–14 Donbass Donetsk KHL 46 7 10 17 42 13 0 6 6 35 2014–15 Iowa Wild AHL 13 3 0 3 6 — — — — — 2015–16 Iowa Wild AHL 16 0 4 4 8 — — — — — NHL totals 863 173 193 366 472 108 22 18 40 66

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1996 Ukraine EJC B 8th 5 2 1 3 0 1996 Ukraine WJC 10th 6 0 1 1 2 1997 Ukraine EJC 7th 6 0 2 2 4 1997 Ukraine WJC B 15th 7 3 0 3 8 2002 Ukraine OG 10th 1 1 0 1 4 2013 Ukraine OGQ DNQ 3 2 3 5 2 Senior Tier I totals 1 1 0 1 4

Personal life Fedotenko resides in Tampa, Florida, with his wife Debbie whom he met during his junior hockey career when she was his Billet mom. His family in Ukraine mainly resides in Kyiv and Odesa.

In 2015, Fedotenko described the Russo-Ukrainian war as putting his career into "perspective" because he had yet to find an NHL team but "at least I'm alive and I have peace over my head versus people who I still talk to back in Donetsk who go shelter to shelter and are just trying to survive bombings."