Czechia roster for 2026 Winter Olympics includes Pastrnak, Hertl

Czechia unveiled its roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Tuesday, headlined by Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak, Colorado Avalanche forward Martin Necas, Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas.

Czechia is looking to win a gold medal for the first time since 1998 in Nagano, the first time NHL players participated in the Winter Games. It won bronze in 2006 in Turin with NHL players and 2018 in Pyeongchang without NHL players.

"It was a childhood dream to play in the Olympics," said Dallas Stars forward Radek Faksa, who was named the team. "I was a little kid when the Czech team won it in 1998, the first ever when NHL players played in the tournament. It was a big thing for us. The whole country was excited for that.

"We have lots of good players. I know there's some guys from Europe but they're really good players. I know we can compete with the top teams as well."

This is the first group of NHL players to represent Czechia at the Olympics since 2014, when NHL players most recently participated.

The tournament will feature all 12 teams playing three preliminary games in their respective groups.

The three group winners and the best second-place team will get a bye into the quarterfinals; the other eight teams will play single-elimination games to determine the other four quarterfinalists. The gold medal game will be held on Feb. 22.

Explore NHL.com's Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026

Team Czechia, which is in Group A, will open against Team Canada on Feb. 12, then play Team France on Feb. 13 and Team Switzerland on Feb. 15.

Here is the Team Czechia roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 (in alphabetical order) and a breakdown by NHL.com of each position group:

FORWARDS (14)

Roman Cervenka, Dynamo Pardubice
Radek Faksa, Dallas Stars
Jakub Flek, Kometa Brno
Tomas Hertl, Vegas Golden Knights
David Kampf, Vancouver Canucks
Ondrej Kase, HC Litvinov
Dominik Kubalik, EV Zug
Martin Necas, Colorado Avalanche
Ondrej Palat, New Jersey Devils
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Lukas Sedlak, Dynamo Pardubice
Matej Stransky, HC Davos
David Tomasek, Farjestad
Pavel Zacha, Boston Bruins

Head coach Radim Rulik, who has had the final say in constructing this roster, is building the offensive core around players who won the gold medal at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague, with Hertl and Faksa being the only ones who were not part of that group. Generating offense should not be a problem for the Czech team, which can deploy Pastrnak and Zacha on the top line alongside Cervenka, who is expected to be the team captain and has shown great chemistry with the Bruins star forward at the last two World Championships. Despite turning 40 on December 10, Cervenka is the top scorer in the Czech Extraliga, having recorded 43 points (13 goals, 30 assists) in 30 games for Pardubice. Promoting Palat to the first line and letting Cervenka play with his Pardubice teammate Sedlak could be another option. However, all that would likely mean Necas would play on the second line, with the possibility of moving next to Pastrnak in key moments and on the power play, where Hertl could fit in well too. Players from Europe like Flek, Kubalik and Stransky could bring some speed and provide secondary scoring.

DEFENSEMEN (8)

Radko Gudas, Anaheim Ducks
Filip Hronek, Vancouver Canucks
Michal Kempny, Brynas IF
Tomas Kundratek, Ocelari Trinec
Jan Rutta, Servette Geneve
Radim Simek, Bili Tygri Liberec
David Spacek, Iowa Wild
Jiri Tichacek, Karpat Oulu

There are two surprises on the Czech defensemen selections: the inclusion of Tichacek, who has been improving steadily since the start of the season in the Finnish Liiga, and the absence of David Jiricek (Minnesota Wild), who is one of the only three Czech defensemen to have played at least one NHL game this season. The other two -- Gudas and Hronek -- will log heavy minutes as two of the key pieces of the team. The 22-year-old Spacek has proven his value on international ice (including winning the World Championship title in Prague in 2024) while still waiting for a chance to play his first NHL game. Kempny, Rutta and Simek are solid veterans with NHL experience, but the question is whether they can keep up with the pace against NHL superstars of the calibre of Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon. The defense will probably be the biggest weakness of the Czechs.

GOALIES (3)

Lukas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks
Karel Vejmelka, Utah Mammoth
Dan Vladar, Philadelphia Flyers

Unlike the defensemen group, goaltending should not be a problem for the Czechs, which will have Dostal as the undisputed No. 1 despite having missed games due to injury in December and a decline in his numbers this season (3.22 GAA; .887 save percentage). The Ducks goaltender backstopped Czechia to the World Championship title in 2024 with shutouts in the quarterfinals against the United States and in the gold-medal game against Switzerland and is eager to prove himself on an even bigger international stage. Vladar proved reliable as a No. 2 at the 2025 Worlds and has found his groove after joining Philadelphia in the summer. Vejmelka is fourth among NHL goaltenders this season with 31 starts and tied for 2nd in wins (17-11-2).