NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Dominik Kubalik of Czech Republic, 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship (Photo by RvS.Media/Monika Majer/Getty Images)

Czechia Announces 2026 Men’s Winter Olympics Roster

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Zach Martin | Last updated Jan 6, 2026 12:00 PM ET

Following the conclusion of the 2026 World Juniors, with Czechia earning the silver medal, all eyes on the international stage will focus on the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy. The men’s tournament will begin on Feb. 11 and run through Feb. 22 for the Gold Medal game. For Team Czechia, their first game will be on Thursday, Feb. 12, against Canada at 10:40 am Eastern. They are in Group A along with Canada, Switzerland, and France. Before the games begin, who made the 2026 Men’s Olympic roster for the Milan-Cortina games?

If You Build it, They Will Come

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, the Czech Ice Hockey Federation announced its 2026 Winter Olympics roster for the men’s side as they look to build on its Men’s World Championship title from 2024. Here is the roster that Czechia will take to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina:

Goalies: Lukáš Dostál (Anaheim Ducks), Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth), Daniel Vladař (Philadelphia Flyers)

Defensemen: Radko Gudas (Anaheim Ducks), Michal Kempný (Brynas IF), David Špaček (Iowa Wild), Filip Hronek (Vancouver Canucks), Jiří Ticháček (Karpat), Jan Rutta (Geneve-Servette), Radim Šimek (White Tigers Liberec), Tomáš Kundrátek (HC Oceláři Třinec)

Forwards: Roman Červenka (HC Dynamo Pardubice), Radek Faksa (Dallas Stars), Pavel Zacha (Boston Bruins), Ondřej Palát (New Jersey Devils), Jakub Flek (HC Kometa Brno), Lukáš Sedlák (HC Dynamo Pardubice), Tomáš Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights), David Kämpf (Vancouver Canucks), Ondřej Kaše (HC Litvínov), Dominik Kubalík (EV Zug), David Pastrňák (Boston Bruins), Matěj Stránský (HC Davos), David Tomášek (Farjestad BK), Martin Nečas (Colorado Avalanche)

Upon first glance, the Czechia roster has a balanced mix of players from the NHL and Europe. Czechia general manager Jiří Šlégr spoke with the media following the announcement of the rosters. When asked about the roster being half from Europe and the other half overseas, he stated, “When I went through the nomination, of course, it went through my head. I saw that there were about half of the guys from Europe and half from the NHL. But I think that today it is not entirely appropriate to compare it in any way. It’s always about the result at the end. I believe that we chose the guys we chose correctly. These are mainly players who have already experienced what it is like to win the world championship title. I think there are nineteen of them from the Prague championship, and that’s a terribly important factor for us. It sometimes takes time to find a way to win, and when you find it, you gain confidence that you can carry over to other tournaments.”

When a team can bring Pastrňák (17 goals and 46 points), Nečas (19 goals and 53 points), and Vladař (15-6-3, 2.39 goals-against average [GAA], .910 save percentage [SV%]), among others, this is a group to watch out for. With how this group has won in the past together, they could be on a path to bring home more medals back to Czechia.

There seems to be a feeling of this team gelling as it did at the 2024 IIHF Men’s Worlds Championship when they won the gold in Prague. If Czechia can find that magic at the upcoming winter games, the Czechs could be in a solid position to make it through the group stages. The thing that will help this team through the tournament will be the character of the players as a whole.

When asked about comparing players and building the roster, Šlégr commented, “It was a lot about character. We had the advantage of knowing the characters of the players who won the World Championship in Prague. We had something to build on and talk about, so it was easier in this regard.” On top of that, there is a belief that head coach Radim Rulík will be able to get the best out of the group that will travel to Italy next month.

It’ll be interesting to see how Czechia plays in the group stages of the Milan-Cortina games. If they can build on what they’ve done over the last few years, especially with success in the Men’s Worlds, World Juniors, and overall growth of hockey in Czechia, this team could see itself in the medal round in mid-February. It’ll come down to the chemistry and overall belief as they look to garner more attention on the international stage, which will feature NHLers for the first time in over a decade.