KHL players at the 2026 Olympics

Four players represented our League at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, three of them with Team Slovakia and one with Team France. Let’s see how they fared.

Stephane Da Costa, France

1 (0+1) point in 4 games, -6

Avtomobilist’s forward didn’t have his best tournament in Italy. The veteran, at his first Olympic participation, played a prominent role within the French lineup, ending up on the ice for almost twenty minutes a night, but couldn’t showcase his best strengths with his team being forced to defend most of the time. The French accumulated four losses, to Switzerland (0:4), Czechia (3:6), Canada (2:10), and Germany (1:5), and finished in eleventh place, only above the hosts, Team Italy. Da Costa had an assist in the losing effort against the Czechs, but finished the tournament with a minus-6 rating.

Adam Liska, Slovakia

2 (0+2) points in 6 games, even

The Slovaks were the sensation of the tournament, ending up in fourth place only after losing the Bronze medal game to Team Finland, whom they defeated in the round robin. Differently than with his club, Severstal, Liska was used in a bottom-six role, performing a lot of grind job in the corners and played penalty kill, while switching in different lines, playing side to side with former Neftekhimik forward Libor Hudacek and former Avangard Peter Cehlarik, among the others. Liska posted assists in the first two games of the tournament, in wins against Team Finland (4:1) and Team Italy (3:2).

Martin Gernat, Slovakia

4 (1+3) points in 6 games, +1

The Lokomotiv defenseman had a very good tournament, playing in the same pair with two-time Stanley Cup champion Erik Cernak from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Gernat needed a little time to adapt to the different competition, but ended up recording an assist in the first game of the tournament. He posted another helper in Slovakia’s win over the hosts Team Italy, and recorded a goal and an assist in the Slovaks’ losing effort to Team Sweden (3:5). The last couple of games dragged his numbers down, especially his minus-3 rating in the bronze medal against the Finns, but the whole team didn’t have its best showing and Gernat’s tournament can be called a success anyways.

Adam Ruzicka, Slovakia

5 (2+3) points in 6 games, plus-3

Spartak’s Ruzicka was the best players among the KHL representatives at the Olympics, not only because of his numbers, but also for his status – he played in the first line, with world-class and tournament’s first All-Star team Juraj Slafkovsky and the veteran of almost a thousand of NHL games Tomas Tatar, now playing in Switzerland. Ruzicka scored points in five out of six games and scored the winning goal in the match against the hosts Team Italy. His excellent play was even more impressive considering that it was his first big tournament with the senior national team. Ruzicka ended the tournament as the team’s fourth scorer behind Slafkovsky, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Pavol Regenda, and with the best differential among forwards.