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.
Daily Struggle For Mnatsakanov Following Accident
In a 2004 interview with the Windsor Star, Artem Mnatsakanov, who was 13 at the time of his father’s injuries, discussed what daily life was like for his dad following the June 13, 1997 accident.
“He was like a reborn little baby,” Artem Mnatsakanov explained. “My mom [Elena] had to teach him how to read again. She pretty much had to teach him how to read again.
“His short-term memory is gone. He has a really good memory from 10 years ago, but whatever happened 20 minutes ago, he doesn’t remember.
“Every day, mom and I will have him write out his address, where we live, what he does, so that he gets in back into his head.”
Sergei Mnatsakanov would serve as Red Wings team masseur from 1993-97.
“I am saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and former teammate, Sergei Mnatsakanov at his home in Florida,” former Red Wings trainer John Wharton posted on X, the social media site once known as Twitter.
“‘Natsa’” was a great massage therapist, a tremendous team asset and even better person.”
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