If this is indeed it for Jakub Kindl’s pro hockey playing career, the former Detroit Red Wings defenseman will be going out a champion.

Playing this past season with the Bordeaux Boxers of the French League, Kindl helped the club win the championship. On Thursday, Kindl, 39, announced that he would not be returning to the French club for next season.

“He brought his experience, discipline, positional skills, and passing to the game,” the club said in a release on their web page announcing Kindl’s departure. “And also his personality, which integrated into the team without any problems.”

The club described the one-time Red Wings player as “a true giant of the hockey world.”

Jakub Kindl, le défenseur international tchèque ne fera plus partie de l’effectif des Boxers la saison prochaine. 🥲

Avec ses 351 matchs de NHL et 279 d’AHL, c’est un authentique géant du hockey mondial qui avait posé ses valises à Mériadeck. 🫶https://t.co/DIIUQdDiVm pic.twitter.com/ltbc7qFOOq

— Boxers de Bordeaux (@BoxersBordeaux) July 16, 2026

In 37 games, Kindl accounted for four goals and 17 assists. He won his second title in three seasons. In 2023-24, the former Detroit rearguard helped Storhamer to win the Norwegian League title.

The veteran defenseman has not indicated that he will be retiring from the game.

Kindl was a Red Wings first-round draft pick

The Red Wings made Kindl the 19th overall selection in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. A 6-foot-3, 198-pound, left-shot defenseman from Czechia, Kindl played 293 games for Detroit from 2009-10 through the 2015-16 season, when he was traded to the Florida Panthers.

Kindl struggled to win a regular role with the Red Wings. He would also spend three full seasons and parts of four others in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins, playing 266 games for the Griffins.

Kindl’s best season with the Red Wings was in 2013-14. He saw action in 66 games, producing 2-17-19 totals and a minus-four rating.

Along with his homeland, France, Norway, and in the NHL, Kindl has also played professionally in Germany and Finland. He played for the Czech Republic in the 2014 World Cup of Hockey. Kindl also won a pair of IIHF World Junior (U20) Championships playing for his homeland.