On Monday, the NHL, IIHF, and NHLPA announced the first six preliminary roster players selected to represent each of their respective countries for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, set to take place between Feb. 6 and Feb. 22, 2026, in Milano-Cortina, Italy. 12 teams will make up the Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament: Canada, Finland, United States, Czechia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Italy, and Denmark.

Three members of the Anaheim Ducks were announced to their country’s “first six” lists: defenseman and captain Radko Gudas, along with tandem goaltender Lukas Dostal, will represent Czechia, and goaltending prospect Damian Clara will represent Italy, host of the 2026 games.

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Radko Gudas

Gudas was named the Ducks' captain prior to the 2024-25 season, his second with the Ducks and 13th in the NHL. The team cited his on-ice intensity, supportiveness, and lead-by-example qualities as the most substantial motivations when arriving at that decision.

From an on-ice perspective, both eye tests and statistics indicated Gudas took a step back in 2024-25 compared to the player he was in 2023-24 and his previous three seasons as a member of the Florida Panthers.

He was noticeably slower in terms of explosiveness when closing on attackers and decision-making when defending the rush. He would often overcommit and leave teammates vulnerable without the ability to recover.

Gudas was rumored to have been playing through a significant knee injury and also rumored to have a scheduled surgery when the 2024-25 season was over. However, Gudas relayed to Lucie Vyborna of Český rozhlas Radiožurnál that he opted to recover through physical therapy and hopes to return to the ice in July.

Gudas clocked the second-most minutes (1609:07) on the Ducks roster last season, setting a career-high and was second only to Jackson LaCombe (1672:33), and led the team in 5v5 TOI (1360:54).

Gudas tallied 16 points (1-15=16) in 81 games last season and has played the most career NHL games (829) of any active Czech player. He’s only one of four active NHL defensemen from Czechia, so his selection for the upcoming Olympics wasn’t a surprise, but being announced as one of the team’s first six preliminary roster players is certainly an honor.

Gudas last represented his country during the 2024 World Championships, where his team took home the gold medal on home soil. He will be a two-time Olympian, as he represented Czechia 11 years ago at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as a 23-year-old, where he played three games but didn’t register a point.

Lukas Dostal

Dostal emerged as one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL in 2024-25, his second full season in the NHL.

He started 49 games and appeared in 54, posting a .903 SV% (.003 above league average) and saving 12.04 goals above expected.

Dostal’s play style is built on his ability to master angles from within the crease, remain calm during scrambles in front, and track pucks through screens and deflections while occasionally making a casually stunning save or two every game. As the season wore on and he played the most hockey of his career, he was susceptible to an occasional soft goal or two that would squeak through his arm and body.

Dostal didn’t join Czechia at the 2025 World Championship after backstopping them to a gold medal in 2024, where he was astonishingly good while posting a 6-2-0 record, a .939 SV%, and three shutouts.

Dostal is a restricted free agent this offseason and is two years from unrestricted free agent status. His contract projection sits at one year with a $3,972,800 AAV on a short-term deal or at four years with a $5,219,075 AAV on a long-term deal.

Damian Clara

The Ducks drafted Clara (60th overall in 2023) in the second round of the NHL Entry Draft two years ago out of the Farjestad BK organization in Sweden.

He had a spectacular season in 2023-24 playing on loan for Brynas IF in HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier professional division, where he backstopped them to a qualification for the SHL the following year. He finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 25-8-0 record, a .913 SV%, and four shutouts. He added a 10-1-0 record and a .913 SV% in 11 qualification games.

Clara’s 2024-25 wasn’t as sparkling, as he played the majority of the year back with Farjestad in the SHL, where he posted a 9-10-1 record and an .879 SV%. He was loaned to Karpat in the Finnish Liiga in February, where he fared better, posting a .910 SV% in ten games despite a 3-7-0 record. He finished the year with a pair of games (one start) playing for the San Diego Gulls of the AHL and posted a .898 SV%.

Clara has represented Italy at the D1A level of the World Championships every summer for the past three years, but has never competed at the top level of international competition. As the host nation, Italy receives an automatic bid, and Clara will get to wear his nation’s colors on the largest stage for the first time.

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Photo Credit: Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images