Goalie Dan Vladař earns Czechia Olympic nod amid breakout season with the Flyers

Dan Vladař remembers watching the highlights of the Czech Republic’s only Olympic gold medal in men’s ice hockey. It was how he fell in love with the sport.

Growing up in Prague, the goalie was less than a year old when Dominik Hašek and former Flyers like Jaromír Jágr and the late Roman Čechmánek helped their country win at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Now the 28-year-old Flyers goalie will get a chance to follow in their footsteps. On Tuesday, Vladař was named to the Czechia, formerly known as the Czech Republic, team for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

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“I wouldn’t say it was a goal, but it was maybe in the back of my head somewhere,” he said Monday before the announcement. “Obviously, especially coming here as a new guy, I didn’t really have time to think about it that way.

“I was just trying to establish myself on this team and get to know everybody and focus on myself and the team here.”

Vladař joked that if his phone didn’t ring, he’d go somewhere warm during the two-week NHL break. But how could Czechia leave him off the roster after the season he is having?

Through 24 games, Vladař is 15-6-3 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. His 24 starts are five off his career high, set last season when he backed up Dustin Wolf in Calgary. And his 15 wins are already his all-time best.

“I feel great. Still hungry, as everybody else is in this locker room,” he said about his season with the Flyers. “So, obviously, I’m glad for the opportunity and trying to take advantage of it every day. Body feels great. Head feels really good, too. So everything’s good.”

Everything is better than good. Vladař has looked sensational in net with his tracking and ability to read plays. He will put up a bad game here or there, but they have been few and far between as the Flyers have lost only once in regulation following a loss.

He’s also been one of the NHL’s top goalies.

Vladař’s save percentage ranks him tied for eighth in the league among goalies with 20 appearances, and his GAA is the fifth best. He could challenge to be Czechia’s starting goalie, too, as his numbers are better than those of Karel Vejmelka (.896, 2.70), who plays for Utah, and projected starter Lukáš Dostál (.887, 3.18), who might be in the opposite crease when the Flyers host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).

“I think he worked on his game this summer because he went with a skating coach, and I think he wanted to work on some stuff like the next play, the rebound,” coach Rick Tocchet said before the season resumed after the holiday break. “And I noticed him this year, he’s in position for the second rebound. … I think Vladdy’s worked on that, and I think he’s really done a great job when it comes to that second save, being in position and not being out of position.”

Vladař joins Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland), Travis Sanheim (Canada), and Rodrigo Ābols, who was one of Latvia’s original six players named. Tocchet will be an assistant on Jon Cooper’s staff for Canada.

The netminder last played for Czechia at the 2025 IIHF men’s World Championship, posting a 3-0-0 record in four games with a 1.09 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage; Vladař relieved Vejmelka in the Czechs’ quarterfinal loss to Sweden.

It was the first time he suited up for his country since 2017 at the World Juniors. In 2014, he was the backup to Vítek Vaněček as the Czechs lost to the United States in the gold-medal game at World Juniors. That same year, he started the gold-medal game against Canada at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, giving up four goals, with one scored by his current teammate Travis Konecny.

Czechia is expected to compete for a medal in Milan, and boasts NHL stars like David Pastrňák (Boston Bruins), Martin Nečas (Colorado Avalanche), and Tomáš Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights). Former Flyers Radko Gudas (Anaheim Ducks) and Lukáš Sedlák (HC Dynamo Pardubice) will also suit up for the Czechs. The tournament begins on Feb. 11 and will run through the gold-medal game on Feb. 22.

After clearing waivers on Tuesday, Egor Zamula agreed to a one-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets through the end of the season. The former Flyers defenseman, who was traded to Pittsburgh last week but refused to report to its American Hockey League affiliate, was placed on waivers Monday by the Penguins for the purpose of contract termination. Puckpedia lists the deal at $1 million. Zamula, 25, will reunite with former teammate and fellow Russian Ivan Provorov with the Blue Jackets. Ivan Fedotov is also in the Columbus organization but is currently in the AHL with Cleveland.