The men's hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics begins in a matter of days. Much is made of Team USA and Team Canada, the two tournament favorites, and in Dallas, Team Finland gets plenty of ink as the blue-and-white roster has four current Stars players.
Jake Oettinger (United States), Thomas Harley (Canada), Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen, Mikko Rantanen, and Esa Lindell (Finland) are some of the best players in the world. And considering the power of their countries on the ice, they'd be considered for any country.
Then there's Stars center Radek Faksa, a perpetual third/fourth-liner that rarely draws attention from the masses. Unless, of course, you live in this author's home, where he has become our family's favorite player in franchise history. Seriously, the list goes Faksa, Antoine Roussel, Vernon Fiddler, and Stephane Robidas.
Anyway, enough of that digression.
Ranking Team Czechia players by who I think will have the biggest impact at the Olympics:
— NHLMuse (@NHL_Muse) February 7, 2026
1. David Pastrnak
2. Lukas Dostal
3. Martin Necas
4. Tomas Hertl
5. Filip Hronek
6. Radek Faksa
7. Ondrej Palat
8. Dominik Kubalik
9. Radko Gudas
10. Karel Vejmelka
Who do you think will… pic.twitter.com/WVA6e0i4Sn
Faksa will do for Team Czechia what he's done for nearly 11 years in the NHL: win faceoffs, provide checks, and kill penalties. He's done it for so long in Dallas - even counting his one-season sojourn in St. Louis with the Blues in 2024-25 - that he ranks 10th in franchise history in games played among Stars who have played only in Dallas (as opposed to partly in Minnesota before the team moved to the Metroplex).
If Faksa averages 70 games a season over the final two years of his contract, which has him with the Stars through the 2027-28 season, he'll trail only Jamie Benn, Jere Lehtinen, Tyler Seguin - health pending - and Esa Lindell, also pending his health in franchise history. Even counting Minnesota, only Mike Modano and Neal Broten would be added to the list.
In other words, Faksa is a Stars lifer. It's a wonder, too, considering the average lifespan of third- and fourth-line penalty-killing types like Faksa is about half the length of his current 11 seasons in the league. Seriously, take a look around the league and pick the most comparable player from each of the other teams. Boston's Sean Kuraly is a good comp, as is former Stars center Luke Glendening. But mostly, bottom-six players don't hang on for double-digit seasons very often.
It remains to be seen if Faksa will get an opportunity to play out the remaining years of his Dallas deal. His name is often brought up when zealous fans and prognosticators begin pipe-dreaming the future of the Stars' roster. And it makes sense, fourth-line roles are easier to fill than top-line ones. Plus, he's on the wrong side of 30.
Radek Faksa isn't paid enough
— Farfalla Vendetta (@Deshaunbh) February 5, 2026
But good luck finding Faksa's blend of grit and experience. A grinder he may be, Faksa possessed a bit more skill than most of his counterparts. Kuraly, for example, has managed to get double-digit goals twice in his 10 seasons. Faksa's done it four times while cracking the top 30 among forwards on the penalty-kill, another four times, including in this, his age-32 season. Faksa also leads the Stars in defensive-zone start percentage, showing that coach Glen Gulutzan trusts his veteran in his own zone.
The Milan/Cortina Games likely won't see Faksa lighting up the scoring leaderboards later this week. Instead, he'll do what he does stateside: give Czechia a chance to win from the bottom of the lineup.