Herberts Vasiļjevs (born 27 May 1976) is a retired Latvian professional ice hockey center and right winger. He played in 51 NHL contests and spent more than ten years in the German DEL with Krefeld Pinguine. He also represented the Latvian national teams at three Olympic Games.

Herberts Vasiljevs
Born (1976-05-27) 27 May 1976 (age 48)
Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for Krefeld Pinguine
Florida Panthers
Atlanta Thrashers
Vancouver Canucks
Amur Khabarovsk
Nürnberg Ice Tigers
National team  Latvia
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 1994–2017

Playing career

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Herberts Vasiļjevs is a son of Haralds Vasiļjevs, a well-known Latvian ice hockey player and coach, who coached the Latvian national ice hockey team from 1999 to 2001. He grew up in Latvia, but came to Germany in the early 1990s when his father accepted the player-coach position of the senior team at ERC Westfalen 90 Dortmund. Herberts played in the junior team of Dortmund. His father later moved on to coach the junior team of Krefeld Pinguine of the German DEL (Deutsche Eishockey League).

After playing the 1994/95 season for Krefeld Pinguine, Herberts Vasiļjevs moved to North America where he played junior and minor league hockey. He was then signed by the Florida Panthers of NHL as a free agent in 1998.

Vasiļjevs was one of three Latvian players who have reached NHL without ever being drafted in an NHL Entry Draft (the other two were Pēteris Skudra and Raitis Ivanāns). From 1998 to 2002, Vasiļjevs played 51 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks, scoring 8 goals and 7 assists. After spending the entire 2002–03 season with Vancouver Canucks' minor league affiliate, Manitoba Moose of the AHL, Vasiļjevs was not re-signed by the Canucks.

He continued his career in the Russian Superleague and the DEL. In 2005, he returned to the Krefeld Pinguine organization, the team where he started his professional hockey career 11 years earlier. In the summer of 2010, after long negotiations, Vasiļjevs re-signed a new contract with Krefeld up until 2013.[1]

On 21 May 2015 Vasiljevs consolidated his status amongst Krefeld's history in agreeing to a one-year extension to return for an 11th season with the Pinguine.[2] He announced his retirement on 26 February 2017.[3]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1994–95 Krefelder EV 1981 DEL 42 4 5 9 24 15 1 4 5 10
1995–96 Guelph Storm OHL 65 34 33 67 63 16 6 13 19 6
1996–97 Carolina Monarchs AHL 54 13 18 31 30
1996–97 Port Huron Border Cats CoHL 3 3 2 5 4
1997–98 Beast of New Haven AHL 76 36 30 66 60 3 1 0 1 2
1998–99 Florida Panthers NHL 5 0 0 0 2
1998–99 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 76 28 48 76 66 12 2 1 3 4
1999–2000 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 7 1 0 1 4
1999–2000 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 73 25 35 60 60 6 2 2 4 6
2000–01 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 58 22 26 48 32 12 8 3 11 14
2000–01 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 21 4 5 9 14
2001–02 Vancouver Canucks NHL 18 3 2 5 2
2001–02 Manitoba Moose AHL 31 12 14 26 10
2002–03 Manitoba Moose AHL 69 10 29 39 30 14 3 5 8 8
2003–04 Amur Khabarovsk RSL 37 4 7 11 38
2004–05 Nürnberg Ice Tigers DEL 39 15 23 38 40 6 1 2 3 6
2005–06 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 50 24 21 45 67 5 2 3 5 4
2006–07 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 51 30 24 54 78 2 1 2 3 0
2007–08 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 53 24 33 57 54
2008–09 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 52 20 35 55 40 7 3 1 4 2
2009–10 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 51 22 36 58 92
2010–11 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 52 16 33 49 38 8 6 3 9 32
2011–12 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 26 4 9 13 20
2012–13 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 50 18 29 47 87 9 8 2 10 10
2013–14 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 11 3 4 7 8 5 2 2 4 0
2014–15 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 46 7 16 23 47
2015–16 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 52 12 28 40 28
2016–17 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 52 4 9 13 26
DEL totals 627 203 305 508 649 57 24 19 43 64
AHL totals 306 99 139 238 196 29 6 6 12 14
NHL totals 51 8 7 15 22

International

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Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1998 Latvia WC 6 0 2 2 4
2000 Latvia WC 1 0 0 0 4
2004 Latvia WC 7 0 1 1 0
2005 Latvia WC 6 0 0 0 0
2006 Latvia OG 4 1 0 1 4
2006 Latvia WC 6 1 0 1 10
2007 Latvia WC 6 2 3 5 8
2008 Latvia WC 6 2 1 3 10
2009 Latvia OGQ 3 1 1 2 4
2009 Latvia WC 7 3 6 9 6
2010 Latvia OG 4 1 1 2 6
2010 Latvia WC 6 0 3 3 8
2011 Latvia WC 6 1 1 2 6
2014 Latvia OG 3 1 0 1 0
2014 Latvia WC 7 1 2 3 4
Senior totals 75 13 20 33 70

References

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  1. ^ Didzis Rudmanis (2010-07-06). "Vasiljevs resigns with Krefeld". Latvian Hockey News Report. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  2. ^ "Vasiljevs to continue with Krefeld" (in German). Krefeld Pinguine. 2015-05-21. Retrieved 2015-05-21.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Herberts Vasiljevs hat seine Karriere beendet - Offizielle Website der KEV Pinguine Eishockey GmbH". www.krefeld-pinguine.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
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