Photo Courtesy of Anchorage Daily News

He's played hockey every winter since he was a kid and for the first time in over thirty years, Kimbi Daniels isn't heading to the rink. At 38, he's all but made his retirement from hockey official.
With impending knee surgery in his immediate future and barring any miracles, Daniels has decided to call it a career. "I haven't prepared to play this summer. It hasn't entered my mind. I was resigned to last season being my last," said the veteran centre matter-of-factly.
In fact he's always been that way.
During his Western Hockey League days, a younger Daniels skipped the All Star game after being named to the roster. His rationale?
"It (the game) didn't mean anything," said Daniels
And prior to the 1990 draft, he told his coach flatly that the battle between 'Mike Ricci and I' for first overall was set to begin.
"That's Kimbi," said one scout who has watched him throughout his career. "But he's one of the smarter hockey players I've seen. He's adjusted his game these last few years as he's gotten older but he's smart that's for sure."
Daniels has to be smart, his pro career has lasted eighteen years, more than four times the average of most professional players.
He's been successful too, winning two ECHL championships, a European title and lost in the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Final in 1995.
After spending the last eight years in Anchorage, Alsaska, he's decided to settle down there. "It's nice. Similar to Canada from people to the weather," said Daniels. "It's the first place I've played that I would consider living. The city isn't too big."
That's important to him now because he has a young family.
"Yeah," smiled Daniels. "When I came up here it was only for a couple of years."
"When I was younger I moved around lots and I enjoyed it because I was by myself. Now I have a wife and two kids and it's a little different. That's even when you're done playing. It's a dilemma every couple of years. Maybe I just want to keep my kids in the same area."
"The further you go you realize how hard it is to stay and make it," said Daniels of playing professional hockey. "I just think it's as much being in the right place at the right time as anything," said Daniels. "I don't think guys in the minors realize how close they are to making the NHL."
"They wouldn't look out of place," added Daniels.
"In the nineties if you could get into the NHL and play they weren't looking to add skill guys and some guys got frozen out."
"Clutchers and grabbers made the last two lines up there," said Daniels. "I think there a lot of good players in the minors who were there because of the style. It was almost robotic."
But he says he likes what he sees now in the NHL.
"There's no doubt the skill level that they have now is probably the highest it's ever been."
Daniels is remarkably honest about his career.
"It could be if I were unquestionably a great hockey player I would have made it no matter what."
He remembers the moment when it dawned on him that he would never see the NHL again. After finishing amongst the top playoff scorers for the Hamilton Bulldogs and losing in the Calder Cup finals, he wasn't offered a contract for the next season. "I knew I had no chance at the NHL again and I was only 25.
Daniels says he thought he would be offered an NHL contract but nothing happened.
"My options have been limited over the years, there's no doubt," said Daniels in hindsight. "But I've managed well. I always seemed to play on good teams in good cities."
And there's no small measure of satisfaction in his own observation that if all of his General Managers and coaches were polled about his performance and work ethic they would say 'good things' about him.
"It's (the game) done a lot, I've seen the world all of North America and Canada, forged some great relationships and allowed me to be prepared for just about any situation."
"It's helped me in so many ways.
"I wasn't making a million dollars in the last ten years but I was doing okay. I had a great job I never considered a job. I wanted to play as long as I could.
While it might seem cliche, the fact is this veteran journeyman measures his career not by listing stats or championship highlights, but how he felt lacing up game after game for nearly two decades as a pro.
"I don't regret anything. I don't think I could have changed anything.
I think I played my last game the same way I played my first game of junior," said Daniels. "I was just happy to go to the rink and play."