Ján Lašák

Ján Lašák (born on April 10, 1979, in Zvolen) is a retired Slovak ice hockey goaltender and currently the goaltending coach of the Slovak National Team. He was selected 65th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

Club career
Lašák played junior hockey with the HKM Zvolen organisation. He made his senior debut during the 1997-98 season when he played 48 games with the HKM Zvolen under-20 team and 4 games with the MsHK Žilina of the 1. Hokejová Liga SR.

In the 1998-99 season, he played 43 games with the HKM Zvolen under-20 team and 8 games with the HKM Zvolen of the West Extraliga.

In the 1999-00 season played Lašák with the Hampton Roads Admirals of the ECHL. In this season, he won the John A. Daley Trophy for the ECHL's rookie of the year, became the ECHL Goaltender of the Year and was selected into the ECHL First All-Star Team.

In the next season, he played with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL.

In the 2001-02 season, he played 3 games with the Nashville Predators of the NHL and 34 games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

In the 2002-03 season, Lašák appeared in 3 games with the Nashville Predators of the NHL and in 40 regular season games and 6 play-off games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

During the 2002 and 2003 season, Lašák spent time with the Nashville Predators mostly as a recalled backup, but he did start five games in those two seasons. Over the span of two seasons, Lašák went 0-4-0 in 5 starts with the Nashville Predators of the NHL with a 4.04 goals against average.

After he was just second goalie with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL at the beginning of the 2003-04 season, he left the Nashville Predators organisation and finished the season with 34 games played with the SKA St. Petersburg of the Superliga.

In 2004 joined Lašák the HC Moeller Pardubice of the Tipsport Extraliga (since the 2006-07 season called the O2 Extraliga). Lašák won 116 games over the five seasons with the HC Moeller Pardubice and had not a save percentage lower than .919. In the 2004-05 season, he became the Czech champion, won the Zlatá Helma Sencor for the best play of the season, had most wins (31) in the Tipsport Extraliga and was the best goalie in terms of save percantage (.949) in the play-offs and in goals against average (1.78) in the play-offs. In the 2005-06 season, Lašák was named the Best Guy of the Tipsport Extraliga. In the 2006-07 season, he was the goalie with most shutouts (6) in the O2 Extraliga.

On October 7, 2009 Lašák joined HC Košice of the Slovnaft Extraliga (formerly West Extraliga) as competition for current number one goalie Július Hudáček. He played there 17 games before he moved to the Atlant Mytishchi of the KHL where he finished the season with 21 regular season games and 4 play-off games played.

In the 2010-11 season played Lašák with the Jokerit of the SM-liiga.

Next season spent Lašák with the Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL.

Lašák also began there the 2012-13 season but after 12 games played, he moved to the Spartak Moskva of the KHL where he finished the season with 13 games played.

Lašák began the 2013-14 season with the HK Dukla Trenčín of the Slovak Tipsport Extraliga (formerly Slovnaft Extraliga). He played there 34 games before he moved to the Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Tipsport Extraliga (formerly O2 Extraliga) where he finshed the season with 8 regular season games and 3 play-off games played.

Lašák then played his last three seasons with the Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Tipsport Extraliga. In the 2015-16 season, he became the Czech champion and was named the Tipsport Extraliga Best Goalie as he was the goalie with the best goals against average (1.81) in the play-offs and had most wins (29) in the Tipsport Extraliga.

International career
Lašák played with the Slovak National Team at the 1997 European U18 Championship, 1999 World Junior Championship (winning there bronze), 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011 World Championship s (at the 2011 tournament only as the second goalie who did not make an appearance on the ice) (winning silver at the 2000 tournament, winning gold at the 2002 tournament, winning bronze in 2003, being named one of the top 3 players on the Slovak team as he was the best goaltender of the tournament in terms of goals against average (1.00) and save percentage (.954) in 2004 and being named one of the top 3 players of the Slovak team at the 2008 tournament) and at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics.

As the coach, he represented Slovakia at the 2018 Olympics and at the 2018 and 2019 World Championship s.