photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andrea Cardin
Captain of 2023 Latvian bronze team ends career at 36
Many were taken by surprise on Monday when Kaspars Daugavins, captain of the Latvian national team and Slovak club HK Dukla Michalovce, announced his retirement. At 36, Daugavins was still a productive forward with 20 points in 19 games, and he spoke fondly of the city in eastern Slovakia that has been his home for the last two seasons.
Many were taken by surprise on Monday when Kaspars Daugavins, captain of the Latvian national team and Slovak club HK Dukla Michalovce, announced his retirement. At 36, Daugavins was still a productive forward with 20 points in 19 games, and he spoke fondly of the city in eastern Slovakia that has been his home for the last two seasons.
“Today, in the early hours of the morning, we learned the news that shocked everyone in the HK Dukla Michalovce organization,” the club’s announcement read. “We wish Daugi all the best in his personal life. Daugi, thank you!”
Michalovce marks the end of an international journey that began when the Ottawa Senators drafted Daugavins in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft. He went overseas to play junior hockey for the OHL’s Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. Thereafter, he played 98 NHL regular-season and playoff games with the Senators and Boston Bruins and more than 200 AHL games. He was part of the 2011 Calder Cup championship team in Binghamton and played in the 2013 Stanley Cup final for the Bruins, very nearly becoming a triple-overtime hero in Game One.
Since 2013, his career has been exclusively in Europe. He played for several KHL teams, including 35 games for hometown Dinamo Riga, and also in Switzerland for Geneve-Servette and SC Bern, as well as in Germany for the Iserlohn Roosters. He was in the midst of his second season in Michalovce when he retired.
Yet it is with the Latvian national team that Daugavins has left his biggest mark on hockey. He played in 12 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, recording 48 points in 78 games, and three Winter Olympics, adding two assists in 12 games.
The biggest moments of Daugavins’ time with the national team, and possibly his career, came at the 2023 Worlds. In that tournament, Latvia lost its first two games before winning six in a row on home ice in Riga to make the semi-finals for the first time ever. The Latvians defeated the U.S. 4-3 in overtime to capture the bronze medal in Tampere, Finland – their first medal ever.
Daugavins had seven points in that World Championship, scoring the tying goal in the last group-stage game against Switzerland, which got Latvia the point needed to advance. Then in the bronze-medal game, he assisted on Kristians Rubins’ overtime winner. However, the captain preferred to laud praise on Rubins, who had also scored the third-period equalizer.
“Wow, what a day for him! He scored probably the biggest two goals in Latvian hockey history!” Daugavins said after the last game.
Other players had no problem saying what Daugavins meant to the team.
“Kaspars, you know, he’s seen a lot,” Rudolfs Balcers said after that win over Switzerland. “He’s played a lot of hockey in his years and he knows the game and how to step up in the big moments. I think that leadership he brings to the group is unreal for us.”
This past spring in Ostrava, Daugavins set a World Championship record by scoring his fourth career overtime goal against Switzerland.
His last international event was back on home ice at Arena Riga in late August and early September, where he helped Latvia qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. In three games, Daugavins had four assists.
Michalovce marks the end of an international journey that began when the Ottawa Senators drafted Daugavins in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft. He went overseas to play junior hockey for the OHL’s Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. Thereafter, he played 98 NHL regular-season and playoff games with the Senators and Boston Bruins and more than 200 AHL games. He was part of the 2011 Calder Cup championship team in Binghamton and played in the 2013 Stanley Cup final for the Bruins, very nearly becoming a triple-overtime hero in Game One.
Since 2013, his career has been exclusively in Europe. He played for several KHL teams, including 35 games for hometown Dinamo Riga, and also in Switzerland for Geneve-Servette and SC Bern, as well as in Germany for the Iserlohn Roosters. He was in the midst of his second season in Michalovce when he retired.
Yet it is with the Latvian national team that Daugavins has left his biggest mark on hockey. He played in 12 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, recording 48 points in 78 games, and three Winter Olympics, adding two assists in 12 games.
The biggest moments of Daugavins’ time with the national team, and possibly his career, came at the 2023 Worlds. In that tournament, Latvia lost its first two games before winning six in a row on home ice in Riga to make the semi-finals for the first time ever. The Latvians defeated the U.S. 4-3 in overtime to capture the bronze medal in Tampere, Finland – their first medal ever.
Daugavins had seven points in that World Championship, scoring the tying goal in the last group-stage game against Switzerland, which got Latvia the point needed to advance. Then in the bronze-medal game, he assisted on Kristians Rubins’ overtime winner. However, the captain preferred to laud praise on Rubins, who had also scored the third-period equalizer.
“Wow, what a day for him! He scored probably the biggest two goals in Latvian hockey history!” Daugavins said after the last game.
Other players had no problem saying what Daugavins meant to the team.
“Kaspars, you know, he’s seen a lot,” Rudolfs Balcers said after that win over Switzerland. “He’s played a lot of hockey in his years and he knows the game and how to step up in the big moments. I think that leadership he brings to the group is unreal for us.”
This past spring in Ostrava, Daugavins set a World Championship record by scoring his fourth career overtime goal against Switzerland.
His last international event was back on home ice at Arena Riga in late August and early September, where he helped Latvia qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. In three games, Daugavins had four assists.