Hlinka now works as Sport Manager together with Sport Director Petr Ton, a former teammate. Their goal is to get Sparta back to the top of both the Czech Extraliga and European competition.

“Together with Petr Ton, we're striving to be successful as a club. We aim to be playing at the top of the Extraliga table – our goal is to get Sparta back to where, we believe, the club belongs. That means playing for the top places in the regular season and competing for the national title in the playoffs,” explained the forward, who also spent a year in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche.

One way to set up success for the team in the longer-term is by bringing through players from the organisation’s youth programme, something the team hasn’t been great at in recent years.

“We’re trying to bring our young players through to the first team so we don’t need to rely solely on players who will spend a year with Sparta before going somewhere else,” Hlinka explained. “We need to get our young players used to the level of the Czech Extraliga so we can build our future around them.”

The CHL is not only about the best European teams, but also about giving a taste of international ice hockey to younger and less experienced players. However, for Sparta the CHL isn’t the place to blood players for experience.

“It’s not our goal to play young, inexperienced players in the CHL games,” admitted Hlinka. “We’ll try to give them some playing time in the Czech league, and if they will be to for the challenge then we can give them a chance in the CHL as well. We definitely want them to experience not only our domestic competition, but to play at international level if they’re ready.”

Aside from his year with the Avalanche, Hlinka also played in Davos, Kazan, and Linköping, but with 19 seasons for Sparta there’s no doubt where his heart lies.

“For me, Sparta is the club closest to my heart. This is where I grew up and spent the biggest part of my career. Without any doubt, Sparta Prague is ‘club number one’ to me,” said Hlinka, who won four national titles with the team.

Sparta, as well as Hlinka, played in the inaugural CHL season, which he says was a great experience.

“When I was still playing, then CHL was one of the highlights of the season, I was always looking forward to it!” he recalled. “It’s a great experience every time you get to play in the CHL and we’re happy to be back once again. It’s a prestigious league and for us, it’s good to meet some of Europe’s best teams.”

Different leagues have different playing styles, should teams prepare differently for European competition?

“We’re not really focusing on international teams in our pre-season preparation. Last year, we played a tournament in Germany, so we do manage to play some games against teams outside the Czech Extraliga now and then,” he explained. "We’re still waiting to see how everything works out this summer, but because of the situation with coronavirus we haven’t planned any international games yet.”

Hlinka recalls his experience playing club hockey in Europe well. “I can’t say a bad word about playing in Sweden and Switzerland. It was a nice experience. It’s always good to compare yourself with the best, as a player and even as a manager now. That’s why we’re looking forward to the CHL season.”

He continued: “I don’t think there is such a big difference between the top European leagues as some suggest. When it comes to quality, the best European leagues are pretty much even. I don’t think that Czech ice hockey is behind Sweden or Finland when comparing club competitions.”

Sparta’s greatest European adventure of recent years was undoubtedly their run to the 2017 Final where they’d eventually lose out to Frölunda in overtime. “The whole CHL season was amazing, not just the Final. We played really good hockey and knocked out two Swedish teams on the way to the Final, but we couldn’t beat the third one, we lost in OT in Gothenburg,” Hlinka said.

“Frölunda were probably the better team in the first half of the game, but I think we turned it around a bit in the other half. I don’t think they were dominant in any way, but rather just luckier in the end. It hurt not to reach the top when we came so close.”

“In a way, it’s always about comparing the national leagues when we play internationally. When Mountfield HK reached the CHL Final this season, they proved that the Czech Extraliga in fact wasn’t as bad as some say. It shows that Czech teams can compete with the best teams in Europe. Of course, Frölunda have won the CHL four times out of six, which is no coincidence as they’re a brilliant organization with top quality players. But I still believe they didn’t outplay us in that Final!”

Now ‘upstairs’, Hlinka doesn’t see the CHL any different to when he was on the ice.

“I still see the Champions Hockey League in the same way. I’m not a player anymore, so I’ll watch the games from the stands, but I still see this as a prestigious tournament that we want to be in – and regardless of my position, we still want to be winning trophies,” concluded the Sparta legend, who played 664 games for the team and notched 580 points.