The 2026 Milan Olympics will be headlined by the return of NHL players to the men’s hockey tournament. With it already being over a decade since Olympic hockey included NHL talent—the last of which was the 2014 Sochi Olympics—the anticipation of the tournament finally returning to a true best-on-best on the world’s biggest stage has continued to build.
Slovakia to feature in the 2026 Olympics
Team Slovakia played a series of Olympic qualifiers this past week as a part of the final Olympic qualification, determining which final three countries would compete. Three separate tournaments with four teams each were held and Slovakia played host against Kazakhstan, Austria, and Hungary.
The Slovaks won all three games and clinched their spot in the 2026 Olympics, and they’re joined by the other two host cities of their respective tournaments, Latvia and Denmark.
Pospisil made an impact
Playing out of Bratislava, Slovakia, the Slovaks featured a mix of NHL and European players. Among them included Calgary Flames breakout rookie from 2023–24: Martin Pospisil. Finally earning his NHL roster spot this previous season, Pospisil was a big difference-maker and factored into Flames games in many different ways, from scoring eight goals and 16 assists across 63 games, to racking up 109 penalty minutes while getting under the skin of their opponents.
Hoping to build on his NHL experience, Pospisil did exactly that at the qualifiers. Across the three games, the Slovaks were favoured to win the tournament, but Pospisil made himself a reason as to why that was the case. Rather than being a depth player, Pospisil raised his game to the level of the tournament and made it onto the scoresheet in every game.
With three assists, Pospisil was tied for the team lead with three points, although former NHLer and Calgary Flame Marek Hrivik officially led the Slovaks with one goal and two assists.
Another neat part about the tournament was that Pospisil got to play alongside his older brother Kristian, and the duo connected in the first game, collecting the two assists on Martin Gernat’s goal against Team Austria.
A successful showing for Slovakia
Team Slovakia had an all-time best finish in the 2022 Olympics, making it onto the podium with a bronze medal. Looking forward to 2026, they aren’t exactly expected to medal, but they won’t be easy fodder either. With NHL talent making it back into the ranks of the Olympics, the perennial powerhouses will likely be in their own tier of competition, while teams like Slovakia will look to continue to build their hockey development pipeline and aim to finish as high as they can. But as they say: anything is Pospisil.
