Sandis Ozoliņš

San Jose Sharks

Ozoliņš joined the Sharks in 1992–93, scoring 23 points in 37 games. He missed the majority of his rookie season recovering from a knee injury suffered in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on December 30, 1992. After recovering from his injury, Ozoliņš ended the 1993–94 season with an 81-game, 26-goal and 64-point sophomore effort, leading the league in goals by a defenceman. Ozoliņš helped the Sharks to move beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, losing in the 1994 conference semifinals.

Colorado Avalanche

Ozoliņš initially held out at the start of the 1995–96 season for a new contract from the Sharks. During that time he played two games with the San Francisco Spiders, an expansion team in the minor International Hockey League. He scored one goal, the first goal in team history.^[2] Back in the NHL, he had one goal and three assists in seven games for the Sharks before being acquired by the Colorado Avalanche for Owen Nolan on October 26, 1995.^[3] In 66 games during his first season, Ozoliņš scored 50 points, with more than half them on the power play. Ozoliņš won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 1996. The following season Colorado won the Presidents' Trophy. After losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1997 conference finals, Ozoliņš finished third in votes for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league's most outstanding defenceman. In the regular season, he scored a career-high 68 points, second in the league for defencemen after Brian Leetch. Ozoliņš recorded his first career hat trick on December 6, 1999, against the Vancouver Canucks.^[4] The 1999–2000 season was his final year in Denver, in which Ozoliņš made $4 million as Colorado's third-highest paid player.^[5]

Carolina, Florida and Anaheim

During the 2000 NHL entry draft, Ozoliņš was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Nolan Pratt and draft picks that became Václav Nedorost, Jared Aulin, and Agris Saviels.^[6] The agreement reunited Ozoliņš with fellow Latvian Artūrs Irbe. They had played together in Latvia and San Jose, shared an agent, and together funded a youth ice hockey organization that bought equipment for children in Latvia. After expiration of Ozoliņš' Avalanche deal, he signed a five-year contract with Carolina worth more than $25 million. "When you have a player like Sandis, you're willing to spend the money," general manager Jim Rutherford said.^[5] Ozoliņš didn t help the Hurricanes to advance in the playoffs, playing just one and a half seasons with Carolina before being traded to the Florida Panthers.

Ozoliņš was traded to Florida in the middle of the 2001–02 season along with Byron Ritchie in exchange for Bret Hedican, Kevyn Adams, Tomáš Malec and a draft pick.^[7] He made his Panthers debut against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 16, 2002. Ozoliņš recorded 10 goals and 19 assists in the remaining 37 games of the season. The Panthers did not make the playoffs during his time in Florida.

During the 2002–03 season, the Panthers sent Ozoliņš to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Matt Cullen, Pavel Trnka and a draft pick.^[8] During the 2003 NHL All-Star weekend (several days after he had been traded), Ozoliņš skipped the NHL All-Star skills competition where he would have had to wear a Panthers uniform. "Participating in the All-Star Game is one thing, but the skills competition is another," said Ozoliņš, who was voted as an Eastern Conference starter. "It would look really unusual for a player to be representing his old team, so I thought this was the right thing to do." He was fined an undisclosed amount by the league.^[9] Upon his arrival with the Ducks, Ozoliņš helped the club reach their first Stanley Cup Finals, losing a seven-game series to the New Jersey Devils. In 2003–04, Ozoliņš battled injuries and was limited to 36 games.^[10]

New York Rangers and return to San Jose

Following the NHL lockout in 2004–05, Ozoliņš was dealt to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline for a third-round draft pick (which the Rangers had obtained earlier in a trade with the San Jose Sharks).^[11] With 14 points in 19 games in the 2005–06 season, Ozoliņš helped his team advance to the 2006 playoffs, for which the Rangers had not qualified since 1997. In the next season on December 18, 2006, on the heels of a 6–1 loss to New Jersey, the Rangers placed Ozoliņš on waivers. After clearing waivers, Ozoliņš was assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), but a short while later was put on the injured reserve list due to a knee injury.

Ozoliņš later entered into the league's substance abuse program following a drunk driving arrest. After playing two games for the Worcester Sharks of the AHL and being cleared to play by doctors within the league's substance abuse program, he signed a one-year contract with San Jose on November 2, 2007. "That was a big turnaround this summer and I'm finally comfortable with what I am and what has happened, I actually feel pretty good and I do what I have to do and I do what I was advised to do. And I do it for myself and not for anybody else," said Ozoliņš.^[12] In the 2007–08 season he recorded three goals and 13 assists in 39 games for the Sharks.

Dinamo Riga

After his season with the Sharks, Ozoliņš was offered a one-year contract by the Los Angeles Kings worth $800,000, but he declined it and went on hiatus from playing for a year.^[13]

On July 13, 2009, Ozoliņš signed a one-year deal with Dinamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Ozoliņš was named a captain for the first time in his career. In the 2009–10 KHL season he was the team's leader in points among defencemen, scoring five goals and 20 assists in 43 games. In January 2010, Ozoliņš was selected to play on the starting roster for the Jaromír Jágr team in the KHL All-Star game. He was also selected to play in the KHL All-Star skills competition,^[14] but, due to a minor injury, only played in the first period and withdrew from the skills competition. On May 18, 2010, Ozoliņš extended his contract with Dinamo for another year, after he declined larger offers from four different KHL teams.^[15]

In the first month of the 2010–11 KHL season, Ozoliņš was honoured as the league's best defenceman after he registered one goal and 11 assists in 11 games, at the time being the league's leader in assists.^[16] He was injured in the November 28 game against Sibir Novosibirsk and missed all of the December due to broken ribs.^[17] In January 2011, Ozoliņš was again selected to play on the starting roster of the KHL All-Star game.^[18] Before the start of the 2011–12 KHL season Ozoliņš received an offer from the 2011 Gagarin Cup winners, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, but he declined it.^[15] During the 2011–12 KHL season, league officials confirmed Ozoliņš as captain of the Western Conference team in the All-Star Game 2012 (which took place on January 21, 2012) versus the Eastern Conference team captained by Sergei Fedorov.^[19] On July 12, 2012, Dinamo Riga board member Guntis Ulmanis told Latvian radio station Baltkom that Ozoliņš left the team as a free agent and could receive lucrative offers from Russian clubs.^{[citation needed]} Since joining Riga, Ozoliņš had 22 goals and 65 assists in 158 regular season KHL appearances, serving as the team captain for every game. During his time with Dinamo Riga, Ozoliņš set several franchise records as a defenceman.

Atlant Moscow Oblast

On September 24, 2012, Ozoliņš signed a one-year deal with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the KHL.^[20] In his only season with Atlant in 2012–13, Ozoliņš was named team captain and immediately served as a fixture on the blueline, producing 2 goals and 20 points in 42 games.

Return home

In the off-season, Ozoliņš made another return as a free agent to Dinamo Riga, signing a one-year contract on May 8, 2013.^[21]