Andres Ambühl Will Retire At Season’s End
Andres Ambühl – the holder of multiple Swiss and international hockey records – will retire at the end of this, his 25th season as a professional hockey player.
On the website of HC Davos, his longtime club, the 41-year-old announced on Thursday:
"Dear fans, I have been thinking about my future for a long time – I've pored over it. Now I have come to the conclusion that the current season will be my last. We have had a lot of really great, enjoyable times together. Now we are going full throttle again – us on the ice and you in the stands, so that with your fantastic support we can experience another such great moment."
The longtime captain of the Swiss national team, Ambühl has played in 19 top-level IIHF World Championship tournaments and 141 World Championship tournament games, which are both records. He has won two silver medals with Switzerland, including last year in Prague.
Domestically, Ambühl is the National League’s all-time leader in games played, having broken the records for regular-season games and total games (regular season and playoffs) this season.
Ambühl was born in Davos and has played for the club almost his entire life. The only exceptions were two one-game loans to EHC Lenzerheide-Valbella in Switzerland’s second tier, one season for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack in 2009-10 and the following two seasons for the Lions from 2010 to 2012. He returned to Davos the next season and has been the team’s captain since 2014.
Ambühl was the National League’s MVP in 2014-15 and is a five-time national champion in Switzerland – five times with Davos and once with Zurich.
Ambühl has one goal and 11 assists in 43 games for Davos this season. He was also suspended two games early in the season for a check to the head of Oskars Lapinskis of the SCL Tigers.
Earlier this season, Davos announced its intention to extend Ambühl’s contract, and that they would like to keep him in the organization after he finishes playing. Presumably, that part is still in the plans.
“It’s clear to us that Andres will continue to work for the club after his playing career ends,” Davos manager Marc Gianola said in November.
Davos currently sits fifth in the 14-team National League with six games remaining in the regular season.