Kaspars Daugaviņš
Kaspars Daugaviņš is a Latvian professional ice hockey player for HC Vityaz of the Kontinental Hockey League. Daugaviņš has played professionally in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. He was selected by the Senators in the third round, 91st overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
Playing career
As a youth, Daugaviņš played in the 2002 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Riga.Junior
After being drafted by the Ottawa Senators at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Daugaviņš moved from Latvia, where he spent the 2005–06 season with HK Riga 2000 of the LHL, and joined the Toronto St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League after he was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2006 CHL Import Draft.In his first season with the Majors in 2006–07, Daugaviņš scored 18 goals and 60 points in 61 games, finishing second in team scoring. He scored his first OHL goal against Andrew Perugini of the Barrie Colts in his first OHL game. The Majors struggled as a team, however, and failed to qualify for the post-season.
Before the 2007–08 season, the Majors relocated to Mississauga, Ontario. Daugaviņš had a breakout season, leading Mississauga with 40 goals and 74 points, helping the club reach the playoffs. In four playoff games, Daugaviņš had two goals and three points as Mississauga were ultimately swept by the Niagara IceDogs in the first round.
Daugaviņš spent the second half of the 2008–09 with the Majors after spending the first part of the season with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League, the top minor league affiliate of the Ottawa Senators. In 30 games with Mississauga, Daugaviņš had 11 goals and 28 points, helping the team to the post-season for the second straight season. In 11 playoff games, Daugaviņš had two goals and nine points as Mississauga fell to the Brampton Battalion in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Professional
After the Majors failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2006–07 season, the Ottawa Senators assigned Daugaviņš to the Binghamton Senators to finish the season. In 11 games with Binghamton, Daugaviņš had two goals, both coming against the Albany River Rats goaltender Tyler Weiman in a 5–4 Binghamton win. On June 1, 2007, Daugaviņš signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Ottawa Senators.In 2007–08, Daugaviņš appeared in three games with Binghamton, posting one assist after he joined the team after the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors were eliminated from the OHL playoffs.
Daugaviņš spent the first half of the 2008–09 season with Binghamton, playing in 23 games, scoring two goals and three points, before being sent back to the Majors to finish the hockey season. After the season, Daugaviņš was selected by Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League in the 2009 KHL Junior Draft.
He spent the 2009–10 with Binghamton, scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 72 games as the team club failed to reach the playoffs. Daugaviņš also made his NHL debut onn January 14, 2010, against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, going pointless in 8:26 of ice time in a 2–0 Ottawa victory.
Daugaviņš returned to the AHL for the 2010–11 season, scoring 19 goals and 54 points in 74 games to finish fourth in team scoring, and helping Binghamton to the playoffs. In 23 playoff games, Daugaviņš had 10 goals and 20 points as Binghamton won the 2011 Calder Cup, defeating the Houston Aeros in six games in the Finals.
Daugaviņš scored his first ever NHL goal on October 30, 2011, beating Jonas Gustavsson of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3–2 Ottawa victory. As the 2011–12 season progressed, Daugaviņš became a regular in the Ottawa lineup, playing 65 games and scoring five goals and six assists. In July 2012, he was scheduled for an arbitration hearing with the Senators, but the salary negotiation process was avoided when he agreed with the team to a one-year, one-way deal worth $635,000.
As the 2012–13 NHL lockout began, Daugaviņš signed with his hometown Dinamo Riga of the KHL, the team he had spent the summer of 2012 training with. According to KHL regulations, his contract included a "get-out" clause which allowed him to return to the NHL once the lockout was resolved in January 2013. Though he was a healthy scratch for Ottawa's first three games of the shortened season, he replaced the injured Guillaume Latendresse in the Senators' lineup in a 6–4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 25, 2013.
Daugaviņš was placed on waivers by Ottawa on March 26, 2013, and was subsequently claimed by the Boston Bruins on March 27, 2013.
After his fifth season in the KHL and completing his third season with Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod in 2017–18, Daugaviņš left as a free agent to sign a two-year contract with his fourth KHL club, Spartak Moscow, on May 3, 2018.
After two productive seasons with Spartak, Daugaviņš left as a free agent, signing a one-year contract with HC Vityaz on May 3, 2020.
International play
Daugaviņš represents Latvia at international hockey events. In 2004, Daugaviņš played for Latvia at the World U18 Championships as a 15-year-old, earning two assists in five games as Latvia finished in fourth place. Daugaviņš came back for the 2005 IIHF World U18 Championships, scoring two goals and three points in helping the Latvians to a second-place finish in the Division I Group B tournament. At the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships, Daugaviņš had five goals and nine points in five games, helping Latvia finish with a perfect 5–0–0 record and a first-place finish in the Division I Group B tournament held in his home city of Riga.Daugaviņš participated with Latvia at the 2007 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships as an 18-year-old, where he had three goals and ten points in five games, as Latvia finished in second place in the Division I Group A tournament held in Odense, Denmark. At the 2007 IIHF World Championship held in Moscow, Daugaviņš had three goals and six points in six games as Latvia finished in 13th place.
In 2008, Daugaviņš played at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he had two goals and 10 points in five games, helping Latvia win the Division I Group B tournament in Riga. He once again represented Latvia at the 2008 IIHF World Championship held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Quebec City, Quebec, earning no points in six games as Latvia finished in 11th.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Daugaviņš appeared in four games for Latvia, earning no points as the Latvians finished 12th. He also participated at the 2010 IIHF World Championship held in Germany, scoring two goals and three points in six games for the 11th place-finishing Latvians.
Daugaviņš represented Latvia again at the 2012 IIHF World Championship, scoring a goal and two points in a relatively successful tenth-place finish for the country.