Career
Korolev played over 700 games in the National Hockey League (National Hockey League) from 1992 until 2004. Korolev returned to Russia, and played a further seven seasons in the Russian Super League (RSL) and the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) before retiring from active play in 2010. In 2011, Korolev accepted an assistant coach position with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
Korolev was killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster along with nearly the entire roster of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League for whom he was coaching.
A native of the Russian Republic of the Soviet Union, Korolev became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 2000. Korolev began his professional playing career with The Human Context Dynamo Moscow in the 1988-1989 season appearing once.
He played two further full seasons with Dynamo. Korolev was drafted by the Saint Louis Blues in the second round, 38th overall in the 1992 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
After five games with Dynamo in the 1992-1993 season, Korolev left to join the Blues.
Korolev played for the Blues for two seasons. Korolev was unsigned in the 1994-1995 season and he returned to Dynamo. He was picked up by the Winnipeg Jets on waivers in 1995 and stayed with the team as it moved to Phoenix.
He signed as a free agent with Toronto in 1997.
He was traded to Chicago in 2001 where he played until 2004. He then returned to Russia and signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
After one season, he transferred to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he played three seasons. He played one season with Atlant Moscow Oblast and one final season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl where he retired after the 2009-2010 season.
He became an assistant coach with the team and was still an assistant at the time of his death.
Korolev died on September 7, 2011, the day after he turned 41, when a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger aircraft crashed just outside Yaroslavl, Russia while transporting Lokomotiv to Minsk to play their opening game of the season. Lokomotiv officials said "everyone from the main roster was on the plane plus four players from the youth team" All aboard were killed, aside from one crew member. Igor and Vera Korolev married in June 1990.
Igor and Vera have two daughters, Kristina and Anastasia.
Korolev"s family has a permanent home in the North York district of Toronto, Canada. The Korolevs obtained Canadian citizenship in 2000.
Korolev was buried in Toronto at Mount Pleasant Cemetery after a funeral on September 18, 2011. Korolev was the godfather of fellow National Hockey League player Nik Antropov"s son.
Korolev and Antropov both played the 2000-2001 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.