The 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo is only month away. On Tuesday, the Czech Republic announced its Olympic men’s hockey roster. At first glance, this team is mighty talented, and should be in the conversation for an Olympic medal despite not being given an invite for last year’s Four Nations Face-Off last February.
Czech Republic, which also goes by Czechia, or simply the Czechs, is led by two players who are currently in the top 15 in NHL scoring. They are Martin Necas of Nove Mesto na Morave, and David Pastrnak of Havirov. Necas is a centre with the NHL’s best team (the Colorado Avalanche), and Pastrnak is a right winger with the Boston Bruins.
Necas has 19 goals and 34 assists for 53 points and is seventh in NHL scoring. He is a +37 with 24 penalty minutes, nine power-play points, 95 shots on goal, nine faceoff wins, 13 blocked shots, 45 hits, 11 takeaways, and 70 giveaways.
Pastrnak has 19 goals and 29 assists for 48 points and is 14th in NHL scoring. He is a -10 with 32 penalty minutes, 19 power-play points, two game-winning goals, 133 shots on goal, one faceoff win, 15 blocked shots, 45 hits, 13 takeaways and 66 giveaways. Throughout his career, Pastrnak shoots the puck with regularity. He has 2952 shots on goal in his career, and in 2022-23, he led the NHL with 407 shots on goal. Also during the 2022-23 NHL season, Pastrnak had a NHL high 43 even strength goals, and also led the NHL with 13 game-winning goals. Pastrnak also led the NHL in three goal categories during the 2019-20 season. They were goals (48), power-play goals (20), and game-winning goals (10).
The player most likely to play alongside Pasternak and Necas on a very intriguing number one line for the Czechs is Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl of Prague. So far this season, Hertl has 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points.
There are 10 more players in the National Hockey League on the Czech Republic. They are goaltenders Lukas Dostol (Anaheim Ducks), Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth), and Dan Vladar (Philadelphia Flyers), defensemen David Spacek (Minnesota Wild), Radko Gudas (captain of the Anaheim Ducks), Filip Hronek (Vancouver Canucks), and forwards Radek Faksa (Dallas Stars), Pavel Zacha (Boston Bruins), Ondrej Palat (New Jersey Devils), and David Kampf (Vancouver Canucks).
The best Czech moment in hockey came at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano when they won the gold medal. It should be noted that Czechia is also an Olympic contender in women’s hockey next month too.
