Thank you, Nigel
The most productive import in KHL history, Nigel Dawes, is hanging up his skates for the last time. The 38-year-old, who suited up for Barys, Avtomobilist and Ak Bars in his 10 years in the league, announced his decision at the weekend after his current club, Germany’s Adler Mannheim, was eliminated from the DEL playoffs.
In some ways, Nigel Dawes was an unlikely KHL star. As a junior, he helped Canada to World Championship silver in 2004, leading the tournament scoring with 11 points ahead of Alexander Ovechkin and Sid Crosby. A year later he returned to win World Junior gold. NHL stardom beckoned, but after a solid five years in the show he took the chance to join Barys and reboot his career. And thus, a legend was born. Dawes went on to play seven seasons in Astana, gaining Kazakh citizenship along the way, before two years at Avtomobilist alongside Pavel Datsyuk and a final KHL campaign with Ak Bars in 2020-2021.
During his time with Avtomobilist, Dawes reflected on his decision to come to the KHL.
“I never dreamt as a kid to play in Russia, to play overseas,” he told KHL.ru. “Your dream is always to play in the NHL. But the opportunity this league has given me, not just hockey-wise, [has been] to see a whole new part of the world. I’ve been able to travel on some breaks and after seasons, and to see places I didn’t even know existed until I was on this side of the world.
“I’ve been able to make a great career for my family and enjoy playing hockey. I’ve gotten to see how good all these Russian players are, visit these Russian cities…I really wouldn’t change anything.”
Record breaker
Dawes compiled 505 (267+238) points in 549 KHL games. That’s more than any other import in the league’s history. He remains second in goals behind only the great Sergei Mozyakin (351). Dawes was fourth in all-time KHL scoring when he left the league in 2021, but has since been overtaken by Alexander Radulov (549 points from 453 games after adding 72 with Ak Bars so far this season).
That’s not all. Dawes became known as the Hat-trick King, and memorably dressed up in full royal regalia when the All-Star Game visited Astana. Not only was the Winnipeg native noted for the frequency with which he potted trebles, he also made playoff history when he scored four goals in 25:45 on Traktor in a first-round game in 2013. That was the first time any player had hit four in postseason play.
Dawes was a KHL All-Star on six occasions. In 2018 he led the league in scoring with 35 goals for Barys. Nine of those were game-winners, another league-leading stat. Despite that impressive form, the Kazakhs failed to make the playoffs and he opted to leave the club in the hopes of getting a shot at winning the cup. The following year, playing for Avtomobilist, he enjoyed his single most productive KHL campaign with 69 (28+41) points.
During his time with Barys, Dawes formed a notable partnership with two other imports – Brandon Bochenski and Dustin Boyd. The trio was consistently among the most productive in the KHL, and took that chemistry onto the international stage. In 2016, all three were approved as eligible to represent Kazakhstan at the IIHF World Championship in Moscow. For Dawes, once a World Junior champ, it was a first chance to play at the top level of adult international hockey. He finished the tournament with 8 (4+4) points in seven group games but could not save Kazakhstan from relegation back to Division IA. Later, Nigel represented Kazakhstan in a gold-medal Division IA campaign and played twice in Olympic qualification tournaments.
