Czechia, Latvia, France unveil Olympic men's hockey rosters: Players to watch, keys to success
David Pastrňák is a big reason to keep an eye on Czechia when the tournament begins in February.
Olympic men’s hockey roster rollouts continued Tuesday with Czechia, Latvia and France announcing their rosters for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Here’s what to know about the countries’ rosters before the men’s tournament kicks off Feb. 11.
Czechia
Czechia is in something of a league of its own on the international stage. It’s never truly lumped in with the Big Four — Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland — but it’s too talent-rich to be grouped in a lower tier with teams such as Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany.
Czechia’s ninth-place finish in the 2022 Beijing Olympics was the first time the nation failed to reach the medal round at any Olympics or World Championships since splitting off from Czechoslovakia in 1993, a remarkable run of consistency.
The 1998 Olympic gold medalists and seven-time world champs will be a factor in Milan, but will they be able to contend for a medal? Well, they have a top six that can hang with the big boys, including David Pastrňák, Martin Nečas, Tomáš Hertl and Pavel Zacha, with some strong depth forwards in Radek Faksa, Ondřej Palát and Filip Chytil, who’s expected to be back from injury in time for the tournament. And they have excellent goaltending.
The question is, can their blue line hold up against the likes of Canada, the U.S. and Sweden? Only three Czech defensemen have played in the NHL this season, so head coach Radim Rulík will have to lean heavily on Vancouver’s Filip Hronek and Anaheim’s Radko Gudas, along with Minnesota’s 22-year-old David Špaček, who’s split time between the NHL and AHL this season. It’s a big ask.
Player to watch: David Pastrňák
Pastrňák isn’t just the best player on the Czech roster; he’s one of the best players in the world.
With five consecutive 40-goal seasons (not counting the COVID-19-shortened 2020-21 campaign), including a 61-goal campaign in 2022-23, Pastrňák has the kind of game-breaking talent that can significantly close the talent gap against the big four. He’s a proven big-game performer, too, at nearly a point a game in 90 Stanley Cup playoff games (39 goals and 48 assists) and six goals and nine assists in just eight games at the 2025 World Championships.
The Czechs are too talented to reasonably say that they’ll go only as far as Pastrňák can take them, but he is the only skater they have who can take over a game by himself. Even with Czechia’s offensive star power, Pastrňák could again find himself on a line with 40-year-old Czech stalwart Roman Červenka, who has been a consistently productive player in Europe for two decades, and who starred in both the 2024 and 2025 World Championships.
X-factor: Ondřej Palát
During the NHL regular season, Palát is a solid middle-six winger. However, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he’s historically been a monster, with 27 goals in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s three consecutive runs to the Stanley Cup Final from 2020-22. At 34 years old, does he have one more big tournament run in him?
