sportsjabber.net

As we saw last week, St. Louis Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak changed the backplate of his mask this season to honor former Slovakian teammate Pavol Demitra, who was one of the 44 victims of the plane crash that killed the entire roster and coaching staff of the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team.

Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings has decided to do the same and honor Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei and Stefan Liv. All three were members of the Red Wings family that Howard had ties to.

McCrimmon had been an assistant coach under Mike Babcock from 2008 until May when he took the head coaching job at Lokomotiv. Long-time NHL veteran Salei played 75 games in Detroit last season. And Liv played 34 games with Howard when they were both in Grand Rapids of the AHL during the 2006-07 season.

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