Man of the Week: Stephane Da Costa

KHL.ru’s weekly column returns with Stephane Da Costa. The Frenchman is having another striking season in the KHL, and was just awarded Best Forward for the last week, scoring seven points in three games with a plus-8 rating, helping Avtomobilist celebrate three straight wins.

Fresh off being named KHL Forward of the Week for the fourth time in his career, Stephane Da Costa once again finds himself under the spotlight, and this time it perfectly mirrors Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg’s upward trajectory. The club is charging ahead in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, looking increasingly like a team built for a deep spring run. With Da Costa and Reid Boucher both in excellent form and the recent arrival of Dutchman Daniel Sprong adding yet another proven scorer to the mix, Avtomobilist suddenly boast one of the most dangerous offensive units in the conference. At the center of it all stands Da Costa, who is still the second scorer on his team at 36.

Early years

Born in Paris on July 11, 1989, Da Costa emerged from a hockey background quite far from conventional. He couldn’t enjoy many opportunities at home, and as a teenager, he made a move to North America, where he had his junior career, first in the NAHL, then in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers. It was during his time with the Musketeers that Da Costa had his debut at the World Championship, back in 2009 in Switzerland.

His true breakthrough came at Merrimack College, where Da Costa quickly became one of the most prolific players in Hockey East. Over three NCAA seasons, he played 118 games and amassed 147 points, scoring 50 goals and adding 97 assists, numbers that placed him among the most productive collegiate forwards of that period. His sophomore season in 2010–11 was especially dominant, as he produced 45 points in just 34 games, leading all of Hockey East in scoring. In his collegiate career, he accumulated several accolades, and despite going undrafted, his vision, creativity, and puck control made him one of the most coveted free agents to come out of the NCAA.

Ranking up

Da Costa signed with the Ottawa Senators in 2011 and stepped directly into the NHL, enjoying a solid rookie season in 2011–12 in which he appeared in 77 games and recorded 19 points, including eight goals. While the numbers were respectable, the following lockout-shortened season disrupted his momentum, and his role became less defined.

He split time between the NHL and AHL, continuing to produce at the minor-league level, where his offensive instincts remained clear. Across roughly 160 AHL games, he totaled around 130 points, including close to 5 goals. Despite flashes of high-end skill, his style was better suited to a game that allowed for more puck possession and creativity.

Move to the KHL

In 2014, Da Costa moved to the KHL, joining CSKA, and immediately established himself as a top-line forward. Season after season, he delivered steady production, often finishing among his team’s leading scorers while playing a key role on the power play. He had an incredible 62 points in his debut season – a result that he never managed to surpass. After three seasons with the CSKA jersey, he spent a season in Switzerland with Geneve-Servette before returning to the KHL for his first stint in Yekaterinburg.

With Avtomobilist, he was a threat once again, with 48 (22+26) points in 58 regular-season games, yet he failed to bring this kind of productivity in the postseason. Da Costa then moved to Lokomotiv, then to Ak Bars – both times in one-year stints – before returning to Yekaterinburg in 2022.

He never looked back, and keeps on being a key player for the Motormen, now at his fifth straight season in his second stint in Yekaterinburg. Da Costa amassed more than 50 points in his last three regular-season, and is on pace to achieve such a result this year as well. He ended up in the top-10 in all-time KHL scoring, with an impressive 530 points across 607 games. Dmitry Kagarlitsky and Nigel Dawes are only ten and twenty points above – he has a strong chance to climb up even further in the current season. But at this point, Da Costa may have a good possibility to have something that he enjoyed only once in his KHL career: a long playoff run.