NHL Winter Olympics all-time roster for Czechia led by 1998 Nagano gold medalists

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will feature something the world hasn't seen in 12 years, NHL players.

For the first time since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the best hockey players in the world will be back on the biggest international stage, with 12 countries vying for the gold medal.

NHL players first went to the Winter Olympics in 1998 (Nagano), and returned in 2002 (Salt Lake City), 2006 (Turin), 2010 (Vancouver) and 2014.

All of those Olympics featured incredible players, but what if the countries had to pare down all the NHL players from those five Olympics into one team?

That's what NHL.com has done, putting together all-time Olympic rosters of NHL players for select countries.

Today, NHL.com senior independent correspondent Michael Langr presents his all-time roster for Team Czechia:

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

FORWARDS (14)

Patrik Elias
Jiri Dopita
Martin Havlat
Milan Hejduk
Jaromir Jagr
David Krejci
Robert Lang
Pavel Patera
Tomas Plekanec
Vaclav Prospal
Robert Reichel
Martin Rucinsky
Vladimír Ruzicka
Martin Straka

The core of the all-time Czech offense consists of the players that won Olympic gold in Nagano 1998, with the exceptions of Elias, Havlat, Krejci, Plekanec and Prospal. However, Elias (No. 2, 1,025 points) and Krejci (No. 6, 786 points) are among NHL all-time point leaders from Czechia, and Elias also earned a bronze medal at the 2006 Torino Olympics. Plekanec played in two Olympic Games and was a team captain in Sochi in 2014. Otherwise this list is full of gold medalists from Nagano, starting with captain Ruzicka and followed by the whole Litvinov-raised line of Rucinsky - Reichel - Lang (who was Czechia's captain in 2006) up to Jagr, who recorded 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 28 games during four Olympic tournaments and has the second most points in NHL history (1,921). Lang also recorded 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) from the Olympics, though 13 of them came from the 1992 Albertville Games, when no NHL players were participating.

DEFENSE (7)

Roman Hamrlik
Tomas Kaberle
Frantisek Kucera
Petr Svoboda
Jiri Slegr
Jaroslav Spacek
Marek Zidlicky

The 1998 Nagano squad’s dominance is even stronger on defense with only Kaberle and Zidlicky arriving after the historic gold medal. Kaberle participated in four Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), and Zidlicky in three (2006, 2010, 2014), where he collected 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 17 games. The rest of the roster was in Nagano in 1998, with Slegr scoring the only Czech goal in regulation in the 2-1 semifinal shootout win against Canada and Svoboda the only Czech goal in the 1-0 win against Russia for the gold medal. Hamrlik, the No. 1 selection in the 1992 NHL Draft, played 1,395 NHL games -- second most of all Czechs in NHL history behind Jagr (1,733).

GOALIES (2)

Dominik Hasek
Tomas Vokoun

An easy choice. Hasek is a member of Hockey Hall of Fame and a national hero since Nagano, where he completed one of the best tournament performances by a goaltender in the history of hockey, blanking all five Canadian shooters in the semifinal shootout and shutting out Russia in the 1-0 championship game victory, finishing the tournament with 0.97 goals-against average and .961 save percentage in six games. Four years later, already regarded as one of the all-time greats after winning the Hart Trophy twice and Vezina Trophy six times, 'The Dominator' was the No. 1 goalie for Czechia in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Vokoun took over after Hasek's injury in the first game of the 2006 Torino Olympics and, together with Milan Hnilicka, backstopped Czechia's bronze-medal run. In Vancouver 2010, Vokoun had a 1.78 GAA and .944 save percentage in five games.