Slovakian NHL Players: 10 Best Slovak Hockey Players

NHL Players from Slovakia are Tomas Tata, Erik Cernak, and Martin Fehervary. They are the active Slovaks in NHL as of 2023.

National Hockey League has seen great players from Slovakia. Slovak player Mikita has a very high 1,467 career points NHL record.

Most great players from Slovakia have retired, but some professionals are expected to show the country’s presence in the NHL.

Here is the list of active NHL players from Slovakia, including Juraj Slafkovsky, who was the No.1 draft pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

1. Tomas Tatar
2. Erik Cernak
3. Martin Fehervary
4. Adam Ruzicka
5. Jaroslav Halak
6. Juraj Slafkovsky
7. Marian Studenic
8. Pavol Regenda
9. Milos Kelemen
10. Samuel Knazko

Tomas Tatar

Tomas Tatar is playing for the New Jersey Devils in NHL. He has played for the Red Wings, Golden Knights, and the Canadiens.

Tatar debuted in NHL in the 2010-11 season with the Detroit Red Wings. He has played 783 games in NHL with 211 goals and 455 points, which is the highest among the s in NHL.

Erik Cernak

Erik Cernak is with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a defenceman in the NHL. Cernak was drafted in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings.

Cernak started to play in NHL in the 2018-2019 season. He has a record of 296 games with 75 points and 18 goals as a defenceman.

Martin Fehervary

Martin Fehervary is a defenceman playing for the Washington Capitals. Fehervary has played only six games in the 2019-20 season and resumed in the 2021-22 season.

During his 3 NHL seasons, he has scored 14 goals and 34 points as a defenceman.

Adam Ruzicka

Adam Ruzicka is playing as a center in Calgary Flames in the NHL. His offensive abilities grabbed the attention of the teams.

He was drafted 14th overall in the KHL Junior Draft by a Slovak Hockey League team, HC Slovan Bratislava. He has played 75 games in NHL with 31 points.

Jaroslav Halak

Jaroslav Halak, born in 1985, is a professional goaltender from Slovakia. He is playing for the New York Rangers. Jaro played for the Canadiens during the 2006-07 season.

Halak has also played for St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, and Washington Capital. He has played 581 games in the NHL.

Famous Slovakian NHL players of all time are Stan Mikita, Pavol Demitra, and Miroslav Satan. Zdeno Chara, the tallest player in NHL history, is also on the list.

The popularity of these players is according to the historical popularity index (HPI) based on online popularity. One of the famous players from Slovakia is Juraj Slafkovsky.

He was the No.1 pick in the 2022 NHL draft, drafted by Montreal Canadiens. A 2004-born Slafkovksy still has time to offer the country to appear on the list.

Here are the top most famous players from Slovakia of all time who played in the NHL:

1. Stan Mikita (1940-2018)

Stanley Mikita was a Canadian ice-hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the NHL (1958-1980). Mikita was widely regarded as the best center of the 1960s.

He was listed among the 100 greatest NHL players in 2017 and was the first player of Slovak descent to win the Stanley Cup in 1961.

Mikita is one of the most well-known players, from Slovakia, with an HPI of 50.42, and retired with 1,467 career points in 1,394 games.

2. Pavol Demitra (1974-2011)

Pavol Demitra was a professional ice hockey player from Slovakia who competed in 19 seasons with teams in the NHL, Slovak Extraliga (SVK), Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League (CSL), and Kontinental Hockey Company (KHL).

He was a top-line forward player; and a skilled player throughout his career. Demitra left Slovakia to join the Ottawa Senators organization after being chosen by them in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.

While in the St. Louis Blues, he enjoyed his most flourishing seasons, earning selection to three NHL All-Star Games and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2000.

Pavol Demitra is a well-known player from Slovakia with an HPI of 41.81.

3. Miroslav Satan

Miroslav Atan, a former professional ice hockey right winger for Slovakia, was born on October 22, 1974. He played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), five in the Tipos Extraliga, and three in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Satan has played for various teams, including Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Boston Bruins. He is considered a famous hockey professional from Slovakia with an HPI of 39.27.

4. Zdeno Chara

Zdeno Chara, a former professional defenseman from Slovakia, was born on March 18, 1977. Between 1997 and 2022, he participated in 24 NHL seasons with the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals.

He earned the moniker “Big Z” because he is the tallest player in NHL history, standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m).

Throughout his fourteen seasons with the team, from 2006 to 2020, He captained the Bruins.

5. Marian Hossa

Marian Hossa, a former professional right winger from Slovakia, was born on January 12, 1979. The Ottawa Senators selected him in the first round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 12th overall.

He played with the Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and following his first seven NHL seasons with the Senators.

He participated in five NHL All-Star Games throughout his career, playing for three teams in successive Stanley Cup Final appearances, and finally captured the championship in 2009–10 with Chicago.

Famous Slovak hockey player Marian Hossa has an HPI of 36.77.

6. Zigmund Palffy

Zigmund “Ziggy” Palffy, a former professional player from Slovakia, was born on May 5, 1972. He also has a Slovak nickname, “go,” in addition to his English one.

Zigmund Palffy, one of the talented players, spent 12 years in the NHL between 1993 and 2006 with the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

In 2019, He was admitted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. He has an HPI of 36.17.

7. Marian Gaborik

Marián Gaborik, a former professional right winger from Slovakia, was born on February 14, 1982.

The Minnesota Wild selected him third overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest-drafted Slovak player in NHL history until Juraj Slafkovsk.

He began his career with Dukla Trencin in the Slovak Extraliga for two seasons. He was selected as the Wild’s first-ever draft pick.

He is a highly skilled winger with an HPI of 33.97.

8. Ladislav Nagy

Ladislav Nagy is a former professional player from Slovakia, born on June 1, 1979. He spent eight seasons as a left winger with the St. Louis Blues, Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars, and Los Angeles Kings in the NHL.

He has an HPI of 31.91. As Slovakia served as the 2019 World Championships’ hosts, Nagy played his final professional season in 2018–19, capping a 23-year career in his home country.

Slovak ice hockey team is Slovakia’s National Ice Hockey team under Slovak Ice Hockey Federation. Miroslav Satan, a former hockey player, is the general manager of the team.

The team is a predecessor of the Czechoslovakia National Hockey team, formed after the dissolution of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The team first appeared in 1994 as the Slovakia hockey team and has played 8 Olympic games. The team has only got a bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Besides, Slovakia has achieved gold in the 2002 World Championships. The team is participating in the 2023 IIHF World Championship held from 12-28 May.

Slovak hockey league teams include HC Košice and HC Slovan Bratislava. Both teams won the league with nine titles in twenty-nine years of history.

The name of the league changes frequently with the sponsors will. Slovak Extraliga is now known as Tipos Extraliga; Tipos as the title sponsor since the 2020-21 season. It is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia.

The Tipos Extraliga is structured into the regular season and playoffs. Since the 2018-19 season, the league has added Play-in games after the regular season to determine the 7th team to enter playoffs.

Each team plays 50 games in the Regular season and gathers points according to the game rules. The team with the most points is titled the league champion, and the top six teams qualify for the playoffs.

The top eight Slovak teams from the regular and play-in series will participate in the playoff. The teams ranked #7 to #10 play best-of-five series for the remaining playoff spots. The winner of the playoffs will be the Slovak Champion in Tipos Extraliga.

The following teams competed in the 2022-23 season.

1. HC Košice
2. HC Nové Zámky
3. HC Slovan Bratislava
4. HC ’05 Banská Bystrica
5. HC 21 Prešov
6. HK Dukla Trenčín
7. HK Nitra
8. HK Poprad
9. HKM Zvolen
10. MHK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš
11. HK Dukla Michalovce
12. HK Spišská Nová Ves

HC Košice

HC Košice, also known as Oceliari, is a club based in Slovakia. The club competes in the top-tier Slovak ice hockey, Slovak Extraliga. It was founded in 1920 and has won the league nine times.

They are the winner of the first Slovak National Hockey League. The league has won the Czechoslovakian Hockey League, IIHF Continental Cup, Rona Cup, and the Tatra Cup.

HC Slovan Bratislava

HC Slovan is known as Belasi (the Sky Blues) or Orli (the Eagles). It is a professional club based in Bratislava. It left the Slovak Extraligato to join Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2012.

Slovan finished the 2012-13 season as 6th of the western conference and confirmed a spot in the first KHL season. Slovan lost to the defending champion Dynamo Moscow in the first playoff.