Kings prospect Vojtěch Čihař getting much needed reset at the World Juniors
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – Consider this Vojtěch Čihař’s hard launch into North American hockey.
The Los Angeles Kings prospect, a second-round selection back in June, opened the 2026 World Junior Championship with a three-point night in Czechia’s 7-5 loss to Canada on Friday. The winger was a force along boards, creating chaos and space for his teammates.
On Saturday, in a 7-2 win against Denmark, Čihař added another goal. Halfway through group play, he’s tied for second in tournament scoring.
It’s an encouraging sign for Čihař, who had struggled to find his game back in Czechia earlier in this season. After this tournament concludes, he’ll join the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League for the remainder of his 18-year-old season, which will end with Kelowna hosting the Memorial Cup.
“When I talked to Los Angeles, they said what was happening for me in the Extraliga, it wasn’t that good,” Čihař said. “I needed a change, so things came together with Kelowna and I’m looking forward to that after this tournament.”
When he’s at his best, Čihař plays a smart but relentless game. He’s defensively responsible and takes smart routes on the forecheck. He was doing that in Czechia for HC Energie Karlovy, but he was missing some of the offensive upside and opportunity that the Kings were looking for when they drafted him.
It’s an interesting case study, because while Čihař was getting opportunities against professionals and in theory pushing himself, he also wasn’t hitting his maximum development. Čihař, as he describes it, was a teenager doing his best to stick in a higher league, not someone trying to take over games in a top-six role.
Add in the emergence of 2027 draft-eligible Petr Tomek for HC Energie Karlovy, and Čihař’s minutes dipped even more.
That’s why he and the Kings are excited about his future in Kelowna, Čihař will move into a proper top-six role, where he’ll be playing against his peers, and his offensive game should be allowed to flourish more than earlier this season.
Čihař’s showing against his age group at the international level is probably a good indicator of what’s to come. He’s more of a shooter and assertive with the puck, where he can create the chaos off a shot, and then willing to battle for retrievals, something that gave Canada fits in the tournament-opening game.
Čihař’s efforts have also helped the Czechs look like one of the strongest medal contenders, even with a tournament-opening loss to Canada. Canada struggled against Latvia, again. The United States, for all the hope about a three-peat, has looked pretty rough offensively. And Sweden needed to rally for a win against Switzerland on Sunday.
Add in the fact that Czechia are expected to get back top defenseman Radim Mrtka before the medal round, plus the experience of capturing a bronze medal in 2025, and it feels like this might be Czechia’s best chance to win gold at the World Juniors since their back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.