Czechs have lots of options for 2026 Olympics
© Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports - Czechs have lots of options for 2026 OlympicsIt always seems to be difficult to know what to expect from the Czechs, who often produce wildly different results depending on which players are in their lineup. They surely have some elite talent and then a lot of rather mediocre depth players on both sides of the Atlantic that almost seem interchangeable. For that reason, predicting their roster is a bit of a guessing game. If Radim Rulík remains head coach through the 2026 Winter Olympics, he might stick with the team that gelled very nicely at the 2024 IIHF World Championship and won gold on home ice – especially with the Olympics on a wider European ice surface.
After his performance at the Worlds, Lukáš Dostál has established himself as the Czech team’s starting netminder. Petr Mrázek still seems capable of playing for the national team and but he might be challenged for the backup job by Karel Vejmelka, with Vitek Vaněček, Daniel Vladar, Jakub Málek and Jiří Patera also on the radar.
The Czech defense in Prague was mostly European-based players used to the wider ice and they played very well together, but five of them will be at least 34 by February 2026. Rulík leaned heavily on Radko Gudas, Jakub Krejčík, Jan Rutta and Michal Kempný but there’s not going to be room for all of them in the top six with Filip Hronek and David Jiříček joining, and with increased usage from Libor Hájek and David Špáček. Youngsters Stanislav Svozil, John Ludvig and Jiří Ticháček might challenge for spots as well.
Up front, there are a few obvious choices and then things get difficult. Young sniper Jiří Kulich is tough to ignore. The team’s top three players in points were Roman Červenka, Lukáš Sedlák and Dominik Kubalík. None of them will likely be top-liners in Milan, but will all three players make the team? Červenka will be 40 but has still not yet seen a drop-off in his level of play internationally and is still the national team captain. I’m choosing the trio as the only non-NHL forwards on the roster, but that choice has the possibility of not aging well.
Goaltenders (3): Lukáš Dostál, Petr Mrázek, Karel Vejmelka.
Defensemen (8): Filip Hronek, David Jiříček, Libor Hájek, David Špáček, Radko Gudas, Jakub Krejčík, Filip Král, Jan Rutta.
Forwards (14): David Pastrňák, Pavel Zacha, Martin Nečas, Tomáš Hertl, Ondřej Palát, Filip Zadina, David Kämpf, Ondřej Kaše, Radek Faksa, Dominik Kubalík, Jakub Lauko, Jiří Kulich, Roman Červenka, Lukáš Sedlák.
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