Zlatá hokejka: Who is the best Czech hockey player in the world?

Who is the best Czech hockey player in the world? Or rather, who was the best in the 2023-24 season? That question will be answered tonight at a gala event in Prague beginning at 21:25 local time (3:25pm ET).

The 10 finalists, listed alphabetically, are:

The 10 finalists were determined by an earlier round of voting by a panel that includes Czech hockey executives, coaches, broadcasters and journalists. Performance for both the player’s professional team and the Czech national team are both taken into account. Considering the Czechs won this year’s IIHF World Championship on home ice, it is expected that has weighed heavily on the voting in favor of members of that team. Eight of the 10 finalists won gold medals in Prague this year, with Červenka, Dostál and Pastrňák (who has won six of the past seven years) probably being the favorites.

Last week, Červenka was honored as the IIHF's Male Player of the Year. 

The Golden Hockey Stick, or Zlatá hokejka, has been given out every year since 1969. At first, it was essentially an MVP award for the Czechoslovak Extraliga, as very few of the country’s best played abroad. A couple of changes to the award came in the early 90s, however. First, the split of Czechoslovakia into separate Czech and Slovak republics in 1993 left the award in the hands of the Czechs. Also, by that point, it was apparent that most of the country’s best players now plied their trade abroad, most significantly in the NHL. Starting with the 1994-95 season, it became open to all Czech hockey players, regardless where in the world they played.

The most frequent winners have been:

12 - Jaromír Jágr
6 - David Pastrňák
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

Year by year winners: 

1969 - Jan Suchý, 1970 - Jan Suchý, 1971 - František Pospíšil, 1972 - František Pospíšil, 1973 - Vladimír Martinec, 1974 - Jiří Holeček, 1975 - Vladimír Martinec, 1976 - Vladimír Martinec, 1977 - Milan Nový, 1978 - Ivan Hlinka, 1979 - Vladimír Martinec, 1980 - Peter Šťastný, 1981 - Milan Nový, 1982 - Milan Nový, 1983 - Vincent Lukáč, 1984 - Igor Liba, 1985 - Jiří Králík, 1986 - Vladimír Růžička, 1987 - Dominik Hašek, 1988 - Vladimír Růžička, 1989 - Dominik Hašek, 1990 - Dominik Hašek, 1991 - Bedřich Ščerban, 1992 - Róbert Švehla, 1993 - Miloš Holaň, 1994 - Roman Turek, 1995 - Jaromír Jágr, 1996 - Jaromír Jágr, 1997 - Dominik Hašek, 1998 - Dominik Hašek, 1999 - Jaromír Jágr, 2000 - Jaromír Jágr, 2001 - Jiří Dopita, 2002 - Jaromír Jágr, 2003 - Milan Hejduk, 2004 - Robert Lang, 2005 - Jaromír Jágr, 2006 - Jaromír Jágr, 2007 - Jaromír Jágr, 2008 - Jaromír Jágr, 2009 - Patrik Eliáš, 2010 - Tomáš Vokoun, 2011 - Jaromír Jágr, 2012 - Patrik Eliáš, 2013 - David Krejčí, 2014 - Jaromír Jágr, 2015 - Jakub Voráček, 2016 - Jaromír Jágr, 2017 - David Pastrňák, 2018 - David Pastrňák, 2019 - David Pastrňák, 2020 - David Pastrňák, 2021 - David Pastrňák, 2022 - Ondřej Palát, 2023 - David Pastrňák.

In addition to the Zlatá hokejka, awards for best female player, best junior player, and best para (sledge) hockey player will also be presented at the event.