Milan Kraft (born January 17, 1980) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

former 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 hock ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

. He was drafted in the first round, 23rd overall, by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

in the

1998 NHL Entry Draft The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was the 36th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Brian Gionta, Mi ...

. Kraft appeared in 207 games over four seasons with the Penguins, with his most successful season coming in 2003–04 when he scored 19 goals and recorded 21 assists. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

he returned to Plzeň to play for HC Lasselsberger Plzeň of the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga ( cs, Extraliga ledního hokeje, ELH) is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created by the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The leag ...

. He also had a brief stint with

Avangard Omsk Hockey Club Avangard (russian: ХК Авангард, links=no, Vanguard), also known as Avangard Omsk, is a Russian professional ice hockey team from Omsk. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental H ...

of the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

before signing with

HC Energie Karlovy Vary HC Energie Karlovy Vary is a professional ice hockey team based in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. They play in the highest-level national league, the Czech Extraliga. The club The history of the ice hockey in Karlovy Vary dates back to the 1932, ...

of the Czech Extraliga where he has remained since the 2005–06 season. He then moved to rivals

HC Slavia Praha HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech ice hockey team located in Prague playing the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Extraliga from 1994 until 2015, winning the nati ...

and helped the team capture the Czech Extraliga title during the 2007–08 season. Kraft spent the final four years of his career captaining

KLH Chomutov KLH may refer to: *Keyhole limpet hemocyanin, a carrier protein *Kolhapur Airport (IATA code KLH), a regional airport in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Korean Light Helicopter, a designation used by the Republic of Korea Army *KLH (company), an audi ...

until announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the 2012–13 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Milan 1980 births Living people Avangard Omsk players Czech ice hockey centres Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia HC Plzeň players HC Slavia Praha players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Piráti Chomutov players Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Pittsburgh Penguins players Prince Albert Raiders players Sportspeople from Plzeň Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players