Roman Hamrlik

Professional National Hockey League defenseman Roman Hamrlik plays for the Montreal Canadiens. A hard-hitting, physical defensive player, Hamrlik has also proved himself effective on the offense, especially during the power play.

Hamrlik was selected as the first overall pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He joined the Lightning for 67 games and earned 21 points during his rookie season. He reached his career high of 67 points and 103 penalty minutes during the 1995-1996 season.

Hamrlik played the better part of five seasons with the Lightning before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers for two and a half years. Hamrlik was traded to the New York Islanders prior to the 2001-2002 season and remained in New York for the next four seasons.

Up for free agency, Hamrlik signed a two-year contract worth a reported $7 million with the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2005. When the contract expired, Hamrlik, again a free agent, signed a four-year $22 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens in July 2007.

In February, 2009, La Presse reported that three Montreal Canadiens players (Roman Hamrlik, Andrei Kostitsyn, and Sergei Kostitsyn) were linked with organized crime figure Pasquale Mangiola. There were no criminal charges laid to the three Habs players, although Mangiola was arrested and charged with drug trafficking.

Hamrlik was also hit by the injury bug that plagued the Montreal Canadiens defence in the 2009-2010 season. He missed 6 games from December 16 to December 30 due to a lower body injury suffered against the New Jersey Devils.http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8458938&view=notes Hamrlik's regular season stats for the 2009-2010 Season: 75 games, 6 goals (2 power play goals), 20 assists, 56 penalty minutes.