The Most Famous

HOCKEY PLAYERS from Czechia

This page contains a list of the greatest Czech Hockey Players. The pantheon dataset contains 676 Hockey Players, 43 of which were born in Czechia. This makes Czechia the birth place of the 6th most number of Hockey Players behind Finland, and United States.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Czech Hockey Players of all time. This list of famous Czech Hockey Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Czech Hockey Players.

1. Václav Nedomanský (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 52.75, Václav Nedomanský is the most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czechoslovak hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame (1997), Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame (2002), Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2008) and was named into the IIHF All-Time Czech Team (2020).

2. Jiří Holeček (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 52.55, Jiří Holeček is the 2nd most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Jiří Holeček (born March 18, 1944) is a Czech professional ice hockey coach and former player. Holeček played in the Czechoslovak Elite League from 1964 to 1979, and on the Czechoslovak national team for many years. After joining the military he participated in the hockey camp of Dukla Jihlava, but coming from an insignificant Slávia team at the time, he did not make it higher than the number three goaltender and was loaned to HC Košice in the eastern part of the country. After starting his career on the Košice team in 1963–64, Holecek played there for 10 years until he joined Sparta Prague for the 1973/1974 season. Holeček played 488 league games, and despite being awarded the Czechoslovak Golden Hockey Stick award for the best player in 1974, he never won the league title. Holeček played 164 games for the national team, including ten World Championships (leading the team to gold in 1972, 1976, and 1977), being named the best goaltender five times. He played at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and the 1976 Canada Cup. Holeček finished his playing career in 1981 in West Germany. In 1980s he worked as a coach of the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team goaltenders, and later worked as goalie coach for HC Hvězda Praha. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1998.

3. Jaromír Jágr (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 51.47, Jaromír Jágr is the 3rd most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Jaromír Jágr (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaromiːr ˈjaːɡr̩] ; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger and owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers, between 1990 and 2008. After leaving the Rangers in 2008, he played three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Avangard Omsk. He returned to the NHL in 2011 with the Flyers and remained in the league for seven more years before being assigned by the Flames in 2018 to HC Kladno. Having played in 37 professional seasons (as of 2024) and over 2,000 professional games, Jágr has had the longest playing career in professional ice hockey history. He is the most productive European player who has ever played in the NHL and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever. Jágr has the second-most points in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky. In 1990, at age 18, he was the youngest player in the NHL. Until his transfer, at age 45, he was the oldest player in the NHL and is the oldest player to record a hat-trick. In 2017, Jágr was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history. Jágr was the fifth overall selection in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He won consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1991 and 1992 seasons with the Penguins. Individually, he has won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion five times (four times in a row), the Lester B. Pearson Award for the NHL's outstanding player as voted by the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) three times and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player once, while finishing second four times. Jágr is a member of the Triple Gold Club, individuals who have played for teams that have won the Stanley Cup (1991, 1992), the Ice Hockey World Championships (2005, 2010) and the Olympic gold medal in ice hockey (1998). Jágr is one of only two Czech players (the other being Jiří Šlégr) in the Club, achieving this feat in 2005. Jágr was the Czech Republic's flag bearer at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Jágr is also one of only three players from 1981 to 2001 to win the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point-scorer during the regular season; the others are Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Jágr has won the award more times than any other non-Canadian player. He has been a member of the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame since 2008 and the IIHF Hall of Fame since 2024.

4. Jiří Holík (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 49.54, Jiří Holík is the 4th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Jiří Holík (born 9 July 1944) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player and coach. Holík played for Dukla Jihlava in the Czechoslovak Extraliga and was a member of the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team. Holík was a member of the Czechoslovak 1976 Canada Cup team. He was also a member of the country's medal winning teams at the 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976 Winter Olympics. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999.

5. Roman Čechmánek (1971 - 2023)

With an HPI of 47.88, Roman Čechmánek is the 5th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Roman Čechmánek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈroman ˈtʃɛxmaːnɛk]; 2 March 1971 – 12 November 2023) was a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender. He played professionally in the United States, the Czech Republic, and Germany, including in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings from 2000 to 2004. Čechmánek also played for the Czech national team at multiple international tournaments, including seven World Championships.

6. Vladimír Martinec (b. 1949)

With an HPI of 47.30, Vladimír Martinec is the 6th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Vladimír Martinec (born 22 December 1949) is a Czech former ice hockey player. He played as a right winger during the 1970s and early 1980s, and won the Golden Hockey Stick award as top player in Czechoslovakia four times, in 1973, 1975, 1976, and 1979. Internationally, he played for the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2001.

7. Karel Hartmann (1885 - 1944)

With an HPI of 46.77, Karel Hartmann is the 7th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Karel Hartmann (6 July 1885 – c. 16 October 1944) was a Czechoslovak ice hockey player who competed in the Olympic games in 1920. He was a member of the national team that won the bronze medal in Antwerp. He and his family were killed in the Holocaust.

8. Oldřich Machač (1946 - 2011)

With an HPI of 46.62, Oldřich Machač is the 8th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Oldřich Machač (18 April 1946 in Prostějov – 10 August 2011 in Brno) was a Czech ice hockey player who played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. He won three medals in three Winter Olympic games. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1999.

9. Vladimír Zábrodský (1923 - 2020)

With an HPI of 46.24, Vladimír Zábrodský is the 9th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Vladimír Olegovic Zábrodský (7 March 1923 – 20 March 2020) was a Czechoslovak ice hockey and tennis player. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he won a silver medal with the Czechoslovakian national team at the 1948 Winter Olympics, and won the world championships (1947 and 1949). Zábrodský was also a tennis player and member of the Czechoslovakian Davis Cup team. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.

10. Erich Kühnhackl (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 45.65, Erich Kühnhackl is the 10th most famous Czech Hockey Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Erich Kühnhackl (born 17 October 1950) is a German former professional ice hockey player, born and raised in Czechoslovakia. He is one of the all-time greats of German ice hockey and was named Germany's ice hockey player of the 20th century in 2000. Kühnhackl is a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame as well as of the German ice hockey Hall of Fame and Germany's Sport Hall of Fame.

People

Pantheon has 73 people classified as Czech hockey players born between 1885 and 1996. Of these 73, 62 (84.93%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Czech hockey players include Václav Nedomanský, Jiří Holeček, and Jaromír Jágr. The most famous deceased Czech hockey players include Roman Čechmánek, Karel Hartmann, and Oldřich Machač. As of April 2024, 30 new Czech hockey players have been added to Pantheon including Václav Nedomanský, Erich Kühnhackl, and Bohuslav Šťastný.