The 12 countries participating in men’s hockey at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are naming the first six players to their preliminary rosters Monday.
The men’s tournament will start with preliminary games Feb. 11, with the gold medal game scheduled for Feb. 22.
The remainder of the rosters will be announced later this year.
This is the first time NHL players will participate in the Olympics since 2014.
Here are the first six players on Team Slovakia’s preliminary roster (listed in alphabetical order):
Erik Cernak, D
A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2020, 2021), Cernak had an NHL career-high 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) and a plus-29 rating in 76 games this season. The 28-year-old from Kosice has 603 career blocked shots and 1,197 hits in 441 games. Because of the Lightning's deep Stanley Cup Playoff runs in previous seasons, Cernak hasn't played at the World Championships since 2019. He won bronze with Czechia at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
The 25-year-old native of Bratislava had a career-best 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 81 games for the Washington Capitals this season and was plus-18. He was second on the team with 150 blocked shots and had 139 hits. Fehervary has 75 points (22 goals, 53 assists) in 299 regular-season games and has played for Slovakia at the Worlds four times, most recently in 2024.
Simon Nemec, D
The No. 2 pick by the New Jersey Devils at the 2022 NHL Draft, Nemec split time between the NHL and AHL this season and had four points (two goals, two assists) in 27 games with New Jersey. He also scored his first postseason goal in double overtime, a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round. The 21-year-old from Liptovsky Mikulas has 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in 87 games and has played for Slovakia in three World Championships. He also won bronze at the 2022 Beijing Olympics prior to his time in the NHL.
Two seasons into his NHL career, Pospisil has 49 points (12 goals, 37 assists) in 144 games with the Calgary Flames. The 25-year-old Zvolen native had seven points (three goals, four assists) in seven games at the 2024 Worlds, and also played three games for Slovakia in the Olympic qualifiers in 2024.
Slafkovsky, a Kosice native, had seven goals in seven games for Slovakia at the 2022 Olympics to help it to a third-place finish and was named the MVP of the tournament. The No. 1 pick by the Montreal Canadiens at the 2022 NHL Draft, he had an NHL career-high 51 points (18 goals, 33 assists) in 79 games this season and has 111 points (42 goals, 69 assists) in 200 games. Slafkovsky, 21, took home silver at the 2021 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and has played in the Worlds twice (2022, 2024).
Tomas Tatar, F
A 14-season NHL veteran, Tatar played for Slovakia in the 2014 Sochi Olympics and has represented his country at the Worlds seven times, including a silver medal in 2012. The Ilava native also took home silver with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Tatar, 34, had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 74 games for the Devils this season and has 496 points (227 goals, 269 assists) in 927 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights, Canadiens, Devils, Colorado Avalanche and the Seattle Kraken.
