Edgars Kulda (born 13 November 1994) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

winger currently playing for

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

in the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL). He was selected 193rd overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

. He played in Latvian minor and youth leagues.

Playing career

Junior

Kulda began playing hockey in BHS hockey school and founded by former

Dinamo Rīga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a ...

player

Helmuts Balderis Helmuts Balderis-Sildedzis (born 31 July 1952) is a former Soviet and Latvian professional ice hockey player. He played on the right wing and participated at the 1980 Winter Olympics, where the Soviet team unexpectedly lost to the United States. ...

. In 2011–12 season Kulda moved to North America to play for

Edmonton Oil Kings The Edmonton Oil Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, that play in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team, founded in 2006, shares an ownership group with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The te ...

of WHL. His most successful season as Oil King was 2013–14, when Oil Kings won

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

and Kulda received

Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy The Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy is a Canadian Hockey League (CHL) trophy, awarded to the most valuable player in the annual Memorial Cup tournament. The trophy was first awarded in 1972 and won by Richard Brodeur of the Cornwall Royals. ...

as Memorial Cup Most Valuable Player.

Professional

In 2015–16 season Kulda moved back to Latvia and joined his hometown club

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

. He made his KHL debut on 3 September 2015, in overtime loss against Medveščak Zagreb. After a three year absence, highlighted with a lone season with

PSG Berani Zlín RI Okna Berani Zlín is an ice hockey team in the Chance Liga. Their home arena is Trinity Bank Arena Luďka Čajky in Zlín (The biggest city in the Zlín Region). They won the Extraliga in 2004 and 2014.

of the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga () is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season (which all Slovak and ...

, Kulda returned to Dinamo Riga on a one-year contract as a free agent on 7 August 2021.

International play

Kulda represented Latvia in junior and U18 championships. In 2016, he made his debut in 2016 World Championships in opening match overtime loss against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Personal life

Edgars Kulda is the younger brother of Arturs Kulda.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1994 births Living people Arizona Coyotes draft picks Dinamo Riga players Edmonton Oil Kings players HK Riga players HK Zemgale players Latvian ice hockey left wingers Metallurg Novokuznetsk players PSG Berani Zlín players Ice hockey people from Riga Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Denmark Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Expatriate ice hockey players in Kazakhstan {{Latvia-icehockey-bio-stub