Very sad news from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:
Sergei Mnatsakanov might not have drawn the same level of public outpouring of emotion that Detroit Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov has over the years, but he endured the same challenges.
Red Wings team masseur Mnatsakanov, like Konstantinov, was suffering debilitating brain injuries from a limousine crash that happened less than a week following Detroit’s 1997 Stanley Cup win. Mnatsakanov was also left paralyzed from the waist down.
The players were returning from a team golf outing, their last get together following the Cup triumph before heading their separate ways for the offseason. Red Wings defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov was also suffering lesser injuries in the crash.
Former Red Wings forward Slava Kozlov told rg.com that Mnatsakanov died on Friday in Boca Raton, Florida of cancer. He was 71 years old. He’d been living in Florida in recent years after relocating from the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe.
Also from Duff: a Tweet from former Red Wings trainer John Wharton:
I am saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and former teammate, Sergei Mnatsakanov at his home in Florida.
— John C. Wharton IV 🇺🇲 (@johnnywharton) August 23, 2024
"Natsa" was a great massage therapist, a tremendous team asset and even better person.
He called me 'moy shef' (my chief) but I was the one who looked up to him.
RIP Sergei. Hopefully what Keith Gave posted about the Ilitches giving him a paycheck for life after the accident is true. It definitely sounds like something Mike would’ve done.
PS-Thank god Wharton is no longer with the Wings organization. Dude is an absolute MAGA douche, I regret going through his twitter feed. Yikes.