Sandis Ozolià Âà ¡ (born 3 August 1972), commonly spelled Sandis Ozolinsh in North America, is a Latvian former professional ice hockey player and coach. During his career in North America, Ozolià Âà ¡ was a seven-time NHL All-Star, Stanley Cup champion (as a member of the 1995âÂÂ96 Colorado Avalanche), and James Norris Memorial Trophy finalist. He is also the all-time leader for goals, assists, points, and games played by a Latvian in the NHL and holds several Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks franchise records. Ozolià Âà ¡ was also the highest-paid sportsman in Latvian history, before NBA basketball player Andris Biedrià Âà ¡ succeeded him in 2008. He briefly became the head coach of Dinamo Riga in 2017.
Ozolià Âà ¡ was drafted in the 1991 NHL entry draft by the San Jose Sharks as the 8th pick of the second round, 30th overall. He played for the Sharks, Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers. He is often considered a prototype "offensive defenceman," becoming heavily involved in his team's offense and scoring opportunities.
In 2014, Ozolià Âà ¡ was awarded Order of the Three Stars for his long-standing contributions to Latvian ice hockey and sports.
Ozolià Âà ¡ was drafted 30th overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 1991 NHL entry draft and had played for the Kansas City Blades, a minor league team in the International Hockey League. He and Latvian teammate Artà «rs Irbe won a Turner Cup with the Blades in 1992.
Ozolià Âà ¡ joined the Sharks in 1992âÂÂ93, 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, Ozolià Âà ¡ ended the 1993âÂÂ94 season with an 81-game, 26-goal and 64-point sophomore effort, leading the league in goals by a defenceman. Ozolià Âà ¡ 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.
Ozolià Âà ¡ initially held out at the start of the 1995âÂÂ96 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. 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. In 66 games during his first season, Ozolià Âà ¡ scored 50 points, with more than half them on the power play. Ozolià Âà ¡ 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, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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. Ozolià Âà ¡ recorded his first career hat trick on December 6, 1999, against the Vancouver Canucks. The 1999âÂÂ2000 season was his final year in Denver, in which Ozolià Âà ¡ made $4 million as Colorado's third-highest paid player.
During the 2000 NHL entry draft, Ozolià Âà ¡ was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Nolan Pratt and draft picks that became Václav Nedorost, Jared Aulin, and Agris Saviels. The agreement reunited Ozolià Âà ¡ with fellow Latvian Artà «rs 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 Ozolià Âà ¡' 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. Ozolià Âà ¡ 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.
Ozolià Âà ¡ was traded to Florida in the middle of the 2001âÂÂ02 season along with Byron Ritchie in exchange for Bret Hedican, Kevyn Adams, TomÃ¡à ¡ Malec and a draft pick. He made his Panthers debut against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 16, 2002. Ozolià Âà ¡ 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 2002âÂÂ03 season, the Panthers sent Ozolià Âà ¡ to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Matt Cullen, Pavel Trnka and a draft pick. During the 2003 NHL All-Star weekend (several days after he had been traded), Ozolià Âà ¡ 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 Ozolià Âà ¡, 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. Upon his arrival with the Ducks, Ozolià Âà ¡ helped the club reach their first Stanley Cup Finals, losing a seven-game series to the New Jersey Devils. In 2003âÂÂ04, Ozolià Âà ¡ battled injuries and was limited to 36 games.
Following the NHL lockout in 2004âÂÂ05, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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). With 14 points in 19 games in the 2005âÂÂ06 season, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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 6âÂÂ1 loss to New Jersey, the Rangers placed Ozolià Âà ¡ on waivers. After clearing waivers, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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.
Ozolià Âà ¡ 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 Ozolià Âà ¡. In the 2007âÂÂ08 season he recorded three goals and 13 assists in 39 games for the Sharks.
After his season with the Sharks, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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.
On July 13, 2009, Ozolià Âà ¡ signed a one-year deal with Dinamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Ozolià Âà ¡ was named a captain for the first time in his career. In the 2009âÂÂ10 KHL season he was the team's leader in points among defencemen, scoring five goals and 20 assists in 43 games. In January 2010, Ozolià Âà ¡ was selected to play on the starting roster for the JaromÃÂr Jágr team in the KHL All-Star game. He was also selected to play in the KHL All-Star skills competition, but, due to a minor injury, only played in the first period and withdrew from the skills competition. On May 18, 2010, Ozolià Âà ¡ extended his contract with Dinamo for another year, after he declined larger offers from four different KHL teams.
In the first month of the 2010âÂÂ11 KHL season, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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. He was injured in the November 28 game against Sibir Novosibirsk and missed all of the December due to broken ribs. In January 2011, Ozolià Âà ¡ was again selected to play on the starting roster of the KHL All-Star game. Before the start of the 2011âÂÂ12 KHL season Ozolià Âà ¡ received an offer from the 2011 Gagarin Cup winners, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, but he declined it. During the 2011âÂÂ12 KHL season, league officials confirmed Ozolià Âà ¡ 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. On July 12, 2012, Dinamo Riga board member Guntis Ulmanis told Latvian radio station Baltkom that Ozolià Âà ¡ left the team as a free agent and could receive lucrative offers from Russian clubs. Since joining Riga, Ozolià Âà ¡ 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, Ozolià Âà ¡ set several franchise records as a defenceman.
On September 24, 2012, Ozolià Âà ¡ signed a one-year deal with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the KHL. In his only season with Atlant in 2012âÂÂ13, Ozolià Âà ¡ was named team captain and immediately served as a fixture on the blueline, producing 2 goals and 20 points in 42 games.
In the off-season, Ozolià Âà ¡ made another return as a free agent to Dinamo Riga, signing a one-year contract on May 8, 2013.
On May 27, 2014, during an interview on national television, Ozolià Âà ¡ announced his retirement from professional ice hockey and planned to move into politics. However, he returned to Dinamo Riga as an assistant coach on October 31, 2016, and was promoted to head coach on May 29, 2017. On November 8, 2022, Ozolià Âà ¡ was hired as an amateur scout for the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.
Ozolià Âà ¡, who was born in Latvia, and played internationally for the Soviet Union until 1991. His first major international tournament was the 1991 World Junior Championships, where he won a silver medal, losing in the gold medal game to Canada junior team. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, he played for the CIS junior team and won a gold medal at the 1992 World Junior Championships. During the tournament, Soviet Union was formally dissolved and the team was renamed as the Commonwealth of Independent States national junior team. Because Ozolià Âà ¡ and Sergei Zholtok were from Latvia, which was not a member of the CIS, some other teams protested, but the protest was denied.
Ozolià Âà ¡ did not play again internationally until 1998 due to injuries and the NHL playoffs schedule. In 1998, after losing with the Avalanche to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs, he was able to make his debut for Latvia senior team in the 1998 World Championship. In that tournament, he registered one goal and two assists. He the played for Latvia in the 2001 World Championship as the team finished the tournament in 13th place. He played in next year's championship as well as one game during the 2002 Winter Olympics. In the game against Slovakia, Ozolià Âà ¡ registered four assists, helping Latvia to a 6âÂÂ6 tie.
After a three-year absence, Ozolià Âà ¡ helped Latvia qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics. At the conclusion of the Winter Olympics. he announced his international retirement. However, he rejoined Latvia's team in their bid to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Ozolià Âà ¡ served as captain during the 2014 Winter Olympics as Latvia finished eighth in the tournament.
Ozolià Âà ¡ and his former wife have two sons. During the off-season Ozolià Âà ¡ resided in Denver, and most recently in Jà «rmala, Latvia. Ozolià Âà ¡ was the owner of Vilki OP/LaRocca of the Riga Open Championship until it became defunct in 2006. He also owns other Latvian sports ventures, including Latvia's first 18-hole golf course, Ozo Golf Club. In December 2009, Ozolià Âà ¡ was voted as 2009's most popular sportsman in Latvia by internet voters.