Montreal Canadiens' Slafkovsky named to Slovakia's Olympic roster
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The Montreal Canadiens’ number-one pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, will suit up for Slovakia at next year’s Olympics.
The International Ice Hockey Federation posted Team Slovakia’s preliminary roster on X, featuring six players named for next year’s Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina.
Habs forward Slafkovsky, along with Martin Fehervary, Tomas Tatar, Erik Cernak, Simon Nemec and Martin Pospisil are expected to play, starting Feb. 11.
Czechia, Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Latvia also announced their first six players.
No Habs player made any of those teams’ preliminary rosters.
The NHL announced in February that pro players will play in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics.
The last time NHL-ers suited up for their countries was at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
NHL players have played in five Olympic games: Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002, Turin in 2006, Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014.
Canada won gold in 2014, 2010 and 2002; Sweden won in 2006, and Czechia (then called the Czech Republic) won in 1998.