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Scot Kleinendorst, former Rangers defenseman, dies following freak accident

Scot Kleinendorst, the former NHL player who spent two seasons with the Rangers in the 1980s, died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a paper mill accident. He was 59.

Kleinendorst needed emergency brain surgery and broke multiple bones after he was ejected from a crane unloading wood earlier this month at UPM Blandin in Minnesota, where he worked for over two decades.

His family said the injuries were “simply too devastating to come back from,” according to the Star Tribune. The accident is being investigated by the mill and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.