Yanni Kaldis

Yanni Kaldis (born September 30, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenseman for Severstal Cherepovets in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was an All-American for Cornell.

In his sophomore season, Kaldis showed moderate improvement offensively, but the team took a big step forward by finishing first in the conference standings. It was the program's first regular season crown in 13 years and though they stumbled come playoff time, it was a sing of things to come for the Big Red. Kaldis, himself, followed suit as a junior and ramped up his scoring. He finished third on the team and pushed the team to another regular season title. Cornell returned to the ECAC championship game and was named to the All-Tournament Team despite Cornell losing to Clarkson. Cornell made its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and finally managed to win a game. Kaldis assisted on the opening goal and spurred on a run that ended with a 5–1 victory.

As a senior, Kaldis was named team captain and continued to produce from the back end. It was, however, his defensive exploits that allowed Cornell to be ranked as the top team in the nation towards the end of the season. Cornell ended the regular season with just 2 losses in 29 games and, with the #3 Pairwise ranking, it was a mathematical certainty that the Big Red would be selected for the NCAA Tournament for a 4th year in a row. Unfortunately, just prior to Cornell's quarterfinal match with Princeton, both Harvard and Yale withdrew from the conference tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the remaining six team held onto hope that the tournament would continue, a day later the conference announced the cancellation of the tournament.

In spite of the disappointment about how his final season with Cornell ended, Kaldis' performance earned him All-American honors and he was able to sign a two-year contract with the Bakersfield Condors after graduation. Due to a delay to the start of the following AHL season, Kaldis began the year in Austria, playing for the Dornbirn Bulldogs on loan. After joining Bakersfield, Kaldis established himself as a steady defender and helped the Condors win the Pacific Division playoffs, the only postseason title awarded that year.

Following three seasons with the Condors, Kaldis left North America and was signed to a one-year contract with Belarusian club, HC Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, on 10 July 2023.

On May 16, 2024, Kaldis continued his tenure in the KHL, joining Russian club Severstal Cherepovets on a one-year contract.

Career statistics Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2012–13 Dawson College QCHL 32 5 12 17 30 2 0 0 0 0 2013–14 Dawson College QCHL 33 20 18 38 59 3 0 4 4 4 2014–15 Nanaimo Clippers BCHL 54 9 38 47 43 19 4 2 6 6 2015–16 Nanaimo Clippers BCHL 58 9 54 63 28 14 5 7 12 12 2016–17 Cornell University ECAC 35 1 13 14 26 — — — — — 2017–18 Cornell University ECAC 33 4 15 19 14 — — — — — 2018–19 Cornell University ECAC 36 4 24 28 20 — — — — — 2019–20 Cornell University ECAC 29 5 19 24 4 — — — — — 2020–21 Dornbirn Bulldogs ICEHL 34 2 11 13 18 — — — — — 2020–21 Bakersfield Condors AHL 28 0 7 7 6 6 0 0 0 2 2021–22 Bakersfield Condors AHL 53 7 24 31 28 5 0 4 4 2 2022–23 Bakersfield Condors AHL 51 6 20 26 27 2 0 0 0 0 2023–24 Dinamo Minsk KHL 56 7 16 23 30 6 0 1 1 0 2024–25 Severstal Cherepovets KHL 60 3 20 23 28 5 0 0 0 6 AHL totals 132 13 51 64 61 13 0 4 4 4 KHL totals 116 10 36 46 58 11 0 1 1 6

Awards and honors Award Year ECAC All-Rookie Team 2016–17 All-ECAC Third Team 2017–18 All-ECAC Second Team 2018–19 ECAC All-Tournament Team 2019 All-ECAC First Team 2019–20 AHCA East Second Team All-American 2019–20