After two seasons with AC ZPS Zlín of Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League, Roman Hamrlík was drafted as the first overall pick of the 1992 National Hockey League (NHL) entry draft by Tampa Bay Lightning. Aside from two games each with the affiliated Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League and AC ZPS Zlín, he spent the next five and a half seasons with the Lightning, before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers for the next three seasons. He was then traded to the New York Islanders and remained with them through 2004, before spending the locked out 2004-05 season with HC Hamé Zlín of the Czech Extraliga. Returning to the NHL, he played two seasons with the Calgary Flames and four with the Montreal Canadiens. The Washington Capitals then picked him up for the 2011-12 season, but the shortened 2012-13 season saw him limited to four games with the Capitals and 12 with the New York Rangers before his retirement.
Internationally, Hamrlík represented Czechoslovakia in their victorious runs through the 1991 and 1992 European Junior Championships, as well as their fifth-place finish at the latter year’s World Junior Championships. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, he then represented the Czech Republic, coming in seventh at the 1994 senior World Championships. He participated in two editions of the Olympic Games, winning gold in 1998 and being eliminated in the quarter-finals by the eventual bronze medalists of Russia in 2002. His final major international appearance was the 2004 World Championships, where the Czech Republic was defeated by the upcoming bronze medalists of the United States in the quarterfinals. He was inducted into the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
Czechia