He grew up in Latvia, but came to Germany in the early 1990s when his father accepted the player-coach position of the senior team at ERC Westfalen 90 Dortmund.

His father later moved on to coach the junior team of Krefeld Pinguine of the German DEL (Deutsche Eishockey League).

From 1998 to 2002, Vasiļjevs played 51 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks, scoring 8 goals and 7 assists.

In 2005, he returned to the Krefeld Pinguine organization, the team where he started his professional hockey career 11 years earlier.

[1] On 21 May 2015 Vasiljevs consolidated his status amongst Krefeld's history in agreeing to a one-year extension to return for an 11th season with the Pinguine.