Former ECHL, AHL player Vladimir Nikiforov dies at 34 years of age
Some sad news to report out of the hockey world. According to several reports, former player Vladimir Nikiforov passed away last week at the very young age 34.
Nikiforov was born in New York and is the son of hockey coach Aleksey Nikiforov, who played professional hockey in Latvia and Lithuania before coming to the US to be a coach. Very little has been said about Nikiforov's death. An obituary from a funeral home on Long Island asks that donations in his memory be made through a GoFundMe that is collecting for his young son Max's college fund (you can go to the page by clicking here).
Nikiforov played professional hockey for 11 seasons, mostly in the ECHL with various teams, as well as some time in Europe. He also played 19 games with the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who are now known as the Bridgeport Islanders. Before that, he spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, three with the Barrie Colts and one with the Sarnia Sting.
Nikiforov was small for a hockey player (five-foot-eight, 173 lbs), but was known for his speed and skill. Since leaving pro hockey after the 2018-19 season, he had been reportedly helping his father at his hockey school, teaching younger players how to develop their skills. Our sincere condolences to Nikiforov's family and friends, and especially his young son.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||