Alexander Salák (born January 5, 1987) is a Czech professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near ...

. He is currently an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

who most recently played for

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL). He played two games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home g ...

in 2009. Internationally Salák has played for the Czech national team at three

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympi ...

Playing career

Czech Republic

Alexander Salák started his career in IHC Pisek and moved to HC České Budějovice organization during the 2001/02 season. Salák played from 2002 to 2006 for Budějovice, playing in the U18 and U20 Championship leagues. During the 2005/06 season, he played 2 games for HC Strakonice, a Czech Second National League-team. In the following season, Salák spent the entire season playing for HC Tábor at the same level.

Finland

Alexander Salák was contracted to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

in 2006, when he played for Mestis team

Jokipojat Joensunn Kiekko-Pojat is a Finnish semi-professional ice hockey team that plays in the Mestis. The full name of the club is ''Joensuun Kiekko ry''. It has spent three seasons in the top flight of Finnish hockey, season 1971–72 in SM-sarja and ...

on the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland. For the next season he was contracted to

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

side TPS. In TPS, Salák is coached by TPS Goaltending Coach,

Urpo Ylönen Urpo Yrjö Juhani Ylönen (born 25 May 1943 in Käkisalmi, Finland) is a goaltending coach and a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for TuTo and TPS. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame ...

who has coached top Finnish goalies like Miikka Kiprusoff,

Fredrik Norrena Fredrik Jan Elis Norrena (born November 29, 1973) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 100 games in the National Hockey League with the Columbus Blue Jackets between 2006 and 2008. The rest of his career, which lasted ...

and

Antero Niittymäki Antero Pertti Elias Niittymäki (; born June 18, 1980) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who last played for TPS of the SM-liiga (Finnish elite league). He additionally played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the P ...

in the past. Alexander Salak

National Hockey League

On May 29, 2009, Alexander Salák was signed by the

of the NHL. He was assigned to their AHL farm team, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

after training camp. He was recalled by the Panthers and made his NHL debut on October 9, 2009 in a relief role in a game against the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

. On August 13, 2010, Alexander Salák was loaned to

Färjestad BK Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien) ...

of the Swedish Elite League for the 2010-11 season. On February 9, 2011, Salák was traded by the Panthers to the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

, along with forward

Michael Frolík Michael Frolík (; born 17 February 1988) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger who is currently playing with HC Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extraliga. Frolík has played in the NHL with the Florida Panthers, the organization t ...

for

Jack Skille Jack Skille (born May 19, 1987) is an American former professional ice hockey right winger. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche, and the Vancouver C ...

Hugh Jessiman Hugh S. Jessiman (born March 28, 1984) is an American former professional ice hockey right winger. Drafted by the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the first round, 12th overall, of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Jessiman played ...

, and David Pacan. On May 31, 2011, Salák was signed by the Blackhawks to a two-year contract. On June 18, 2012, the Blackhawks released Salák from his contract.

Kontinental Hockey League

He made his

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

debut playing with

SKA Saint Petersburg The Hockey Club SKA (russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members o ...

during the

2013–14 KHL season The 2013–14 KHL season was the sixth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The league's 28 teams played a 54-game balanced schedule. The regular season began on 4 September with the Lokomotiv Cup between last year's finalists Dynamo Moscow ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salak, Alexander 1987 births Living people Czech ice hockey goaltenders Dinamo Riga players Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Färjestad BK players Florida Panthers players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players HC Sparta Praha players HC Tábor players HC TPS players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Jokipojat players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Olympic ice hockey players of the Czech Republic People from Strakonice Rochester Americans players Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players SKA Saint Petersburg players Undrafted National Hockey League players Sportspeople from the South Bohemian Region Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Czech expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate ice hockey players in Latvia