Helmuts Balderis (born July 31, 1952 in Riga, Latvia, then USSR) is a Latvian ice hockey player, a member of IIHF International Hockey Hall of Fame.

Balderis played in Soviet Hockey League for Dynamo Riga from 1969 to 1977, CSKA Moscow from 1977 to 1980 and Dynamo Riga from 1980 to 1985. He was the leading scorer in 1977 and 1983 seasons and was awarded Player of the Year (MVP) award in 1977. He was the brightest Latvian ice hockey star of 1970s and 1980s, and retained all-time scoring records (scoring 333 goals in USSR`s championships) for Latvian ice hockey forward ever.

Balderis also played for Soviet national team, being on the losing side of the Miracle on Ice game in 1980 but winning World Championships on other occassions (1978, 1979 and 1983). Balderis represented Soviet Union in five IIHF World Championships (1976-1979, 1983), 1976 Canada Cup and 1980 Winter Olympics. He was named Best Forward in 1977 World Championships. Despite of his continuing high scoring results, he was not taken into Soviet national team for 1984 Winter Olympics, possibly because of political or national reasons (in those years the Soviet team consisted of sportsmen only from Moscow ice hockey teams, any other Russian cities or Soviet republics were not represented). Thus Balderis became the all-time top scorer among those Soviet ice hockey forwards who played for Soviet national team but had never been awarded with the Olympic gold medal.

In 1985, Balderis retired from playing ice hockey and became a coach in Japan. He returned from retirement in 1989, when Soviet players were allowed to play in NHL. Balderis was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars, played 26 games and scored 3 goals and made 6 assists for Stars. He set two NHL records, becoming the oldest ever player drafted (at the age of 36) and the oldest ever player to score the first goal (at the age of 37) in the NHL. After one season with the North Stars, he retired again but came out of the retirement for the second time when Latvia restored the status of independent country and he played several games for newly created Latvian national team (in 1992), being its captain and scoring 2 goals. Later he was a head coach of Latvian national team and its general manager. Now he is a member of Latvian Ice Hockey Federation (Latvijas Hokeja Federacija; LHF).

In 1998, he was induced into IIHF International Hockey Hall of Fame.

External link

• Biography and statistics - from Hockey Hall of Fame