height_ft weight_lb birth_place draft_year team image_size position catches league draft_team height_in birth_date article_title draft name career_start
6 198 martin , slovakia 2004 hk nitra 225px goaltender right slovak extraliga buffalo sabres 2 5 march 1986 michal valent
 145th overall michal valent 2009
michal valent

michal valent -lrb- born march 5 , 1986 -rrb- is a slovakian professional ice hockey goaltender .
he was selected by the buffalo sabres in the 5th round -lrb- 145th overall -rrb- of the 2004 nhl entry draft .
valent played for bk mladá boleslav from the 2010 -- 11 czech extraliga season until october 2014 .
he had previously played for hc sparta prague .
after joining mladá boleslav he spent much of the first two seasons as back-up to local born goalie marek schwarz .
schwarz then left the club and jaroslav hübl came in in his place .
valent , therefore , remained second choice for the majority of the 2010 -- 11 season .
at the end of that season the club was relegated to the czech první liga , the second highest czech league , in 2012 he remained with the club and was initially set to form a partnership with new signing vlastimil lakosil , but junior goaltender roman will was given a place in the team when he unexpectedly returned from canada , leaving valent 's position uncertain .
for that reason he was loaned out to other teams including hk nitra in his native slovakia .
lakosil failed to impress , but youngster will proved extremely capable and secured the number one spot .
when will was unable to play due to illness , valent was recalled from nitra early .
he subsequently built a solid position in the club and the will-valent partnership excelled .
lakosil would eventually leave the club to play in kazakhstan .
by the time the club won promotion back into the extraliga at the end of the 2013-14 season , valent had cemented his place as the team 's first choice goaltender and signed a contract with the club for the following season .
with will heading to the usa at the beginning of the 2014-15 season however , newcomer david rittich was handed the reigns as the team 's number one goal tender leaving valent once again as back-up .
he made two starts earning an 0-1-1 record , as well as twice coming in to replace rittich part way through a game in the first 12 games of the season .
in early october the club signed veteran goalie roman málek on loan from hc vítkovice steel on loan until the end of the season , leading to speculation that there may have been some tension between valent and rittich , or that valent was clearly unhappy as number two behind the rookie , though there has not been any clear evidence of this .
málek 's arrival , however , further complicated the goal-tending situation and it was unlikely that the three could all get a chance to play .
finally , on october 16 , 2014 it was announced that valent would shortly be leaving the club and returning to his native slovakia to join hk nitra , one of the clubs he represented while on loan from mladá boleslav in the 2012-13 season .
in the 2014 -- 15 season nitra reached the play-off semi-finals and during the off-season valent signed a contract to remain at the club for another season .
