Pastrnak, Draisaitl named as Olympic flag-bearers
The 29-year-old is third all-time among Czechia-born players in the NHL, with 903 points (413 goals, 490 assists) in 807 games.
Czechia is in Group A along with Canada, Switzerland and France, and will open against Team Canada on Feb. 12 (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, CBC). It plays Team France on Feb. 13 and Switzerland on Feb. 15.
Draisaitl is fifth in the NHL with 78 points (27 goals, 51 assists) in 54 games. The Oilers play their last game before the break at the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, SN360).
He is the highest scoring Germany-born player in NHL history with 1,034 points (426 goals, 608 assists) in 844 games.
“We have amazing athletes in our country,” Draisaitl said last week when he was announced as a finalist. “We’re a big country that develops a lot of great athletes, whether it’s in the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics. To be in the conversation to represent our nation is really special. We’ll see how it ends up.”
Germany is in Group C of the 12-team tournament, along with Latvia, the United States and Denmark. Germany plays its first game against Denmark on Feb. 12 (3:10 p.m. ET; Peacock, CBC Gem, TSN). It plays Latvia on Feb. 14, and the United States on Feb. 15.
NHL.com/cs senior independent correspondent Michael Langr contributed to this report
