Team Slovakia projected roster for 2026 Olympics by NHL.com

With the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 less than a year away, NHL.com is predicting the Olympic rosters. Today, NHL.com/sk senior independent correspondent Michael Langr makes his picks for Team Slovakia.

The 12 countries that will play at the 2026 Olympics announced the first six players to their respective rosters June 16.

The men's tournament will start with preliminary games Feb. 11, with the gold-medal game scheduled for Feb. 22. The remainder of the rosters will be announced later this year.

This is the first time NHL players will participate in the Winter Olympics since Sochi in 2014.

In the Olympics, each team carries 25 players and traditionally has 14 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies.

Here is the Team Slovakia roster (listed alphabetically by position, with an asterisk after the players who were named to the roster June 16):

Forwards (14)

Peter Cehlarik, Leksands IF
Dalibor Dvorsky, St. Louis Blues/Springfield Thunderbirds
Samuel Honzek, Calgary Flames
Marek Hrivik, Vitkovice Ridera
Libor Hudasek, Ocelari Trinec
Martin Chromiak, Ontario Reign
Milos Kelemen, Dynamo Pardubice
Robert Lantosi, Motor Ceske Budejovice
Oliver Okuliar, Charlotte Checkers
Martin Pospisil, Calgary Flames*
Pavol Regenda, San Jose Barracuda
Juraj Slafkovsky, Montreal Canadiens*
Adam Sykora, Hartford Wolf Pack
Tomas Tatar, EV Zug*

The lack of Slovakia-based forwards in the NHL is evident when looking at the projected roster of the national team. Tatar is the most experienced and will be the leader of the team. He left the Devils after this season and will play for EV Zug in the National League, the top pro hockey league in Switzerland. The core of this team will be built from the bronze medal winners at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, was named MVP after scoring seven goals in seven games and since then has 111 points in 200 NHL games. The hope is Dvorsky, the No. 10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft who played his first two NHL games this season, will get a bigger shot with the Blues next season, and that players like Honzek, Sykora and Chromiak get some NHL starts as well.

Defensemen (8)

Peter Ceresnak, Dynamo Pardubice
Erik Cernak, Tampa Bay Lightning*
Martin Fehervary Washington Capitals*
Michal Ivan, Bili Tygri Liberec
Samuel Knazko, Cleveland Monsters
Patrik Koch, Ocelari Trinec
Martin Marincin Ocelari Trinec
Simon Nemec, New Jersey Devils*

Defense can be the strength of what's usually an offensively oriented team. There are three players who should have a regular spot in the NHL next season, with Knazko hoping to become the fourth. Cernak is a two-time Stanley Cup champion (2020, 2021) and one of the Lightning's key shutdown defensemen. He doesn't have much experience on the international level but has played more in the Stanley Cup Playoffs than anyone on the projected roster. Fehervary is a member of the Capitals' top defensive unit and will enter his fifth NHL season. Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft, should become one of New Jersey's key defensemen in the next few years. Marincin, formerly with the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, is the only defenseman on this roster who played at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Goalies (3)

Adam Gajan, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Samuel Hlavaj, Iowa Wild
Adam Huska, HC Lugano

With no goalies from Slovakia in the NHL, Hlavaj might be closest to become the next one after Jaroslav Halak left the New York Rangers after the 2022-23 season. Hlavaj, the likely starter, has been a mainstay of the national team. Gajan, a second-round pick (No. 35) of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2023 draft, the highest a goalie from his country has been selected in NHL history, will enter his second season in the NCAA.