Denis Aleksandrovich Shvidki (born November 21, 1980) is a Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 right wing

Winger (ice hockey)

Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...

 currently playing for Krefeld Pinguine

Krefeld Pinguine

The Krefeld Pinguine are an ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. They play in Krefeld, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the KönigPALAST. Founded first in 1936, the pro team became a limited liability company in 1994 and joined the top tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga...

 of the German Hockey League.

Draft

He was drafted in the first round, 12th overall, by the Florida Panthers

Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise and are the...

 in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft

1999 NHL Entry Draft

The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. According to Sports Illustrated and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talent in years, headed by Patrik Stefan and the Sedin twins. However, the...

.

Career

After playing two seasons with the Russian Superleague's Torpedo Yaroslavl

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

Hockey Club Lokomotiv , also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Yaroslavl. The name of the team is derived from its owner, Russian Railways, the national railroad operator....

, Shvidki made his North American debut with the Barrie Colts

Barrie Colts

The Barrie Colts are a junior ice hockey team in Ontario Hockey League, based in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. There were two previous Barrie Colts team which played Junior A & B hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association, one from 1907 until 1910 and another from the 1920s to 1940s.-Original Colts:The...

 of the Ontario Hockey League

Ontario Hockey League

The Ontario Hockey League is one of the three Major Junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 15-20.The OHL also operates under the Ontario Hockey Federation of Hockey Canada....

 in the 1998–99 season

1998–99 OHL season

The 1998–99 OHL season was the 19th season of the Ontario Hockey League. Twenty teams each played 68 games. The Belleville Bulls won the J. Ross Robertson Cup, defeating the London Knights....

. After two seasons with the Colts, he joined the Panthers' American Hockey League

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

 affiliate, the Louisville Panthers

Louisville Panthers

The Louisville Panthers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Louisville, Kentucky. Their home venue was Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The mascot was a light brown "panther" named Paws. They were affiliates of the Florida Panthers. The team became...

, in the 2000–01 season

2000–01 AHL season

The 2000–01 AHL season was the 65th season of the American Hockey League. The league realigns its divisions again. The Atlantic division is renamed the Canadian division. The Empire State division is replaced by the South division, with many teams shifting from the Mid-Atlantic division.Twenty...

. He also appeared in 43 NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 games with the Panthers that season, scoring six goals and adding ten assists.

After three more seasons split between Florida and its minor league affiliates, Shvidki returned to Russia during the 2004–05 NHL lockout and has played there since. Shvidki was reported to transfer to Kärpät

Kärpät

Oulun Kärpät is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga based in Oulu, Finland. Their logo features a stoat ; "kärpät" is Finnish for stoats or ermines. The team has won five league championships .-History:...

 Oulu (Finland) in October 2009 for the rest of the season, however after one month try-out, Shvidki was released.

External links