Milan Hnilička

Milan Hnilička (born June 25, 1973) is a Czech retired professional ice hockey goaltender. He played a career total of 121 regular season games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the New York Rangers, Atlanta Thrashers, and Los Angeles Kings. He has also played in the Czech Extraliga for the HC Kladno, HC Sparta Praha, HC Bílí Tygři Liberec, and HC Slavia Praha and in the Russian Superleague with Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

Career
Before playing professional hockey, Hnilička played 1 season with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League (WHL), 9 games with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the International Hockey League (IHL), 43 games with the Richmond Renegades of the ECHL, and 15 games with the Denver Grizzlies of the IHL.

He was drafted 70th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. He didn't play a game with them and he signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent on July 15, 1999. He played 2 games with them before he was sent down to play with their AHL-affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. During his time with the Wolf Pack, he won the Calder Cup and also won the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award for having the lowest goals against average. He shared to award with Jean-François Labbé.

After he became a free agent, he signed a contract with the Atlanta Thrashers. He played 3 seasons with the Thrashers and 15 games with the AHL-affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. On September 15, 2003, the Thrashers traded him to the Los Angeles Kings for future considerations. He played 20 games with the Kings' AHL-affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs and was called to play Kings. He missed most of the 2003-04 season because of a finger injury that he suffered in a game against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 31, 2003. He then left North America and signed a contract to play for HC Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga on May 18, 2004. He played 3 seasons with them and played 9 games for Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Russian Superleague (RSL) before returning to HC Bílí Tygři Liberec.

He played 3 games with HC Slavia Praha before he announced that he was retiring from playing professional ice hockey in August 2010.

References

 Other websites 

Category:1973 births
Category:Living people
Category:Atlanta Thrashers players
Category:Chicago Wolves players
Category:Czech ice hockey goaltenders
Category:Hartford Wolf Pack players
Category:Los Angeles Kings players
Category:Manchester Monarchs (AHL) players
Category:New York Rangers players
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic
Category:Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic
Category:ECHL players
Category:International Hockey League (1945–2001) players