Kaspars Daugavinš, captain of the Latvian national team and Dukla Michalovce, has retired, the Slovak Extraliga club announced on Monday.
“Today in the early hours of the morning we learned the news that shocked everyone in the Dukla Michalovce organization,” the club’s announcement began.
He mentions "family issues" but says, "I'll be back. Not as a hockey player but I'll be back as a person for you."
At age 36, Daugavinš is still offensively productive with 20 points in 19 Extraliga games this season. His last game was on Nov. 19 in which he recorded one assist in 20:52 of ice time in a 2-1 Michalovce overtime win over HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš.
Drafted in the third round, 91st overall, by the Ottawa Senators in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Daugavinš went immediately to North America and, after two seasons playing for the OHL’s Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, played 91 NHL games for the Senators and Boston Bruins between 2008 and 2013, recording six goals, nine assists and 21 penalty minutes. He also played in seven playoff games and was on the roster of the Boston team that played in the 2013 Stanley Cup final.
Since then, Daugavinš has played in Europe, largely in the KHL – including one season for hometown Dinamo Riga – but also in Switzerland for Genève-Servette and SC Bern and in Germany for the Iserlohn Roosters.
He was in the midst of his second season in Michalovce, where fellow Latvians Renārs Krastenbergs and Artūrs Kulda also play. The team is also home to NHL draftees Cliff Pu and Topi Rönni. At the time of this announcement, Michalovce is tied for fifth in the Extraliga standings with 35 points in 22 games.
It is his career with the Latvian national team that will most be remembered, particularly when he captained the team to an unlikely bronze medal at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, which Riga co-hosted. In all, Daugavinš represented Latvia at 12 World Championships, recording 48 points in 78 games, and at three Winter Olympics, recording two assists in 12 games.
If this is indeed the end of his career, his last international game on Sept. 1 helped Latvia qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics.