Milan Kraft

Milan Kraft (born 17 January 1980) is a Czech former professional ice hockey centre. He was drafted in the first round, 23rd overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1998 NHL entry draft.

Playing career Starting his career as a youth with hometown team HC Plzeň (the club for which his father of the same name also played in the 1970s and 80s), Kraft played initially with the Prince Albert Raiders in 1998 after moving to North America. He 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 (it was also the only campaign that did not involve him spending some time with the Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins).

This progress was halted by the 2004–05 NHL lockout, during which he returned to the Czech Republic to play for Plzeň and HC Energie Karlovy Vary. He also had a brief stint with Avangard Omsk of the Russian Super League before signing permanently with Karlovy Vary, remaining there until the end of the 2007–08 season and helping them reach the Extraliga finals that year only to be defeated by rivals HC Slavia Praha. He then moved to Slavia and quickly contributed to their winning the 2008–09 regular season Presidential Cup trophy – but they subsequently lost in the play-off finals to Karlovy Vary. Kraft spent the final four years of his career captaining KLH Chomutov (leading the team to promotion in 2012) until announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the 2012–13 season.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1995–96 HC ZKZ Plzeň CZE U18 49 54 41 95 — — — — — — 1996–97 HC ZKZ Plzeň CZE U20 36 26 17 43 — — — — — — 1996–97 HC ZKZ Plzeň ELH 9 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1997–98 HC Keramika Plzeň CZE U20 24 22 23 45 12 — — — — — 1997–98 HC Keramika Plzeň ELH 16 0 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 1998–99 Prince Albert Raiders WHL 68 40 46 86 32 14 7 13 20 6 1999–00 Prince Albert Raiders WHL 56 34 35 69 42 6 4 1 5 4 2000–01 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 42 7 7 14 8 8 0 0 0 2 2000–01 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 40 21 23 44 27 14 12 7 19 6 2001–02 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 68 8 8 16 16 — — — — — 2001–02 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 8 4 4 8 10 — — — — — 2002–03 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 31 7 5 12 10 — — — — — 2002–03 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 40 13 24 37 28 6 2 4 6 4 2003–04 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 66 19 21 40 18 — — — — — 2004–05 HC Lasselsberger Plzeň ELH 17 2 4 6 6 — — — — — 2004–05 HC Energie Karlovy Vary ELH 35 9 10 19 20 — — — — — 2005–06 Avangard Omsk RSL 28 2 5 7 14 — — — — — 2005–06 HC Energie Karlovy Vary ELH 19 7 5 12 16 — — — — — 2006–07 HC Energie Karlovy Vary ELH 25 6 3 9 28 3 0 0 0 8 2007–08 HC Energie Karlovy Vary ELH 29 8 4 12 37 19 4 1 5 63 2008–09 HC Slavia Praha ELH 21 2 4 6 2 — — — — — 2009–10 KLH Chomutov CZE–2 38 15 28 43 36 16 6 13 19 22 2010–11 KLH Chomutov CZE–2 34 14 23 37 10 13 5 8 13 12 2011–12 Piráti Chomutov CZE–2 50 23 33 56 18 19 4 9 13 4 2012–13 Piráti Chomutov ELH 45 9 11 20 12 — — — — — ELH totals 216 43 47 90 123 28 4 3 7 77 NHL totals 207 41 41 82 52 8 0 0 0 2

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1998 Czech Republic EJC 6 5 3 8 6 2000 Czech Republic WJC 7 5 7 12 0 2004 Czech Republic WC 7 1 1 2 2 Junior totals 13 10 10 20 6