Photo credit: Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times

Tomas Vokoun, who was sidelined with an injury during the playoffs, announced at Kettler Monday that he will not be back next season. The Veteran Czech netminder, who signed with the Capitals last July to a one-year deal at the surprisingly low rate of $1.5 million, is rumored to join the new Lokomotiv squad.

As per the Czech website iSport.cz:

Behind the hockey scenes, there are talks that he [Vokoun] will be a goaltender for the Yaroslavl [Lokomotiv] in Russia!

[...]

Sport talked to a few scouts and players in Russia, and all of them confirmed: “We heard about it”. Some even added: “That’s a sure thing”.

If Vokoun joins Lokomotiv, that will make a lot of sense. He lost one of his best friends, former Hurricane Josef Vasicek, in the Yaroslavl tragedy last September. There were three Czechs on the team: Vasicek, Jan Marek and Karel Rachunek.

Vokoun told Washinton Times’ Stephen Whyno in October:

“I consider Josef’s family like my family. It was so hard to see his parents and obviously his girlfriend and everybody,” Vokoun said, speaking about the crash publicly for the first time. “Such a tragedy when somebody dies like that and they’re 30 years old, full of life. He was supposed to be getting married and all that, so it’s not an easy thing to understand.”

Lokomotiv is putting together quite a roster. Among the players who have signed with them are Latvian star forward Mikelis Redlihs; one of the KHL’s best defensemen, former Caps prospect Staffan Kronwall; former Cap Viktor Kozlov as well as another player with NHL pedigree: defenseman Vitaly Vishnevsky.

Tomas Vokoun will be backed up by another veteran goalie, Vitaly Kolesnik. Despite both Kolesnik and Vokoun being considered foreign players (foreign goalie can’t play more than 2/3 of the playing time), Lokomotiv, who has a discount when it comes to the total number of the foreign players, will probably get an exception here as well.

September 7, 2011 will be remembered as one of the worst days in hockey history. An airplane carrying the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team crashed just after takeoff from Tunoshna Airport, 11 miles southeast of Yaroslavl in central Russia. The team was on its way to Belarus, where they were set to begin their regular season against Dynamo Minsk.

The aircraft was an Yakovlev Yak-42, an outdated Soviet-era plane that was due to be phased out next year. In Russia the plane is known for its woeful air safety record, and just two months ago 44 people were killed when an Antonov-24 caught fire in midair before crashing in western Siberia. There have been eight fatal crashes in Russia just this year.

According to Slava Malamud of Sport Express, Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, reported Yak-Service, the airliner operating the plane, was ranked last by the European Air Safety Commission. The New York Times reported that the company, founded in 1993, was suspended for three months in 2009 by Russian authorities because of “major safety deficiencies.” The BBC reports that the aircraft broke into two pieces after hitting a radio mast before crashing into Volga river. The Times notes that eight Yak-42s have crashed over the years, killing 570.

“It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong,” an eyewitness told the BBC. “I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seat belts on.”

There are 45 confirmed fatalities of Wednesday’s crash, including all but one player on Yaroslavl’s roster — which includes former NHLers Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Karel Rachunek, Karlis Skarastins, Josef Vasicek, and Alexander Vasyunov along with their head coach Brad McCrimmon.

“We have no team any more,” Lokomotiv spokesman Vladimir Malkov told The Times, “they all burned in the crash.”

Demitra, a three-time All-Star and Lady Byng winner, retired from international hockey in May. This video from his last game with Slovakia is poignant.

There are two known survivors of the crash — a male flight attendant and forward Alexander Galimov, who is listed in “extremely critical” condition according to Sport-Express.

The KHL’s season opener between Salavat Yulaev and Atlant was in progress when news about the tragedy broke, and was stopped after nearly 15 minutes had been played. KHL president Alexander Medvedev said the KHL season will go on as scheduled starting tomorrow.

According to RMNB’s Fedor Fedin, the mood across Russia is somber. Almost every channel on television is devoted to news of the crash, and grizzly pictures have been broadcast.

Meanwhile, reactions to the tragedy have come pouring in from the hockey community, and NHL.com has put together an extensive, though heartbreaking, collection of tweets from League players.

As for the Capitals, the catastrophe hits close to come for some players.

“I knew [Alexander Kalyanin] well, and I also know his father Igor Viktorovich well, who was a coach for Traktor,” Evengy Kuznetsov told KP Chelyabinsk. “It’s tough to talk right now. My condolences to his family.”

Former Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov told Malamud he was ”in shock” and couldn’t say anything else. Varlamov played in Lokomotiv’s organization for four years, including two with the main club.

“It’s kind of a scary moment,” said a shaken Alex Ovechkin, via The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno. “It’s a whole national tragedy.”

Fellow Russian Stanislav Galiev who, like Ovechkin, knew some of the players on the team, was also moved.

Candles are lit in tribute of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Prague’s Old Town Square.

“I am shocked,” Galiev said, again via Whyno. “It’s very sad.”

Whyno also reports that new Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun declined to comment on the crash, saying his best friend was on board.

“Gloomy day in DC and even worse news in Russia,” defenseman John Carlson tweeted. “Prayers to all the family/friends associated today.”

“I heard about the accident, and I can’t say anything other than what happened today is just awful,” Nicklas Backstrom told Hockeysverige.se, as translated by @Rabiesmalin, about countryman Stefan Liv. ”First, Stefan was a very good friend of mine, and then that the whole team was killed in the accident. You can say nothing bad about Stefan as a friend. He was a very happy and positive person and he always had a smile on his face. The news was awful to receive and hard to comprehend.”

The league echoed their players’ sentiments.

“Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world — including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends who at one time excelled in our League,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go to the families and loved ones of all who perished.”

The same goes for us at RMNB.