Jan Bednář (born 26 August 2002) is a Czech professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

for Ässät of the Finnish

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

. Bednář was drafted 107th overall by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

During the

2018–19 Czech Extraliga season The 2018–19 Czech Extraliga season was the 26th season of the Czech Extraliga since its creation after the breakup of Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League in 1993. HC Oceláři Třinec won their second Extraliga title, and ...

, Bednář made his professional debut for HC Karlovy Vary at the age of 16, becoming the youngest goaltender to play for Karlovy Vary. He recorded a 2.73 goals-against average (GAA) and .917 save percentage in 10 games. During the 2019–20 Czech Extraliga season, he recorded a 4.39 GAA and .884 save percentage in 13 games for Karlovy Vary. He also spent time with HC Banik Sokolov of Czech 2.liga, where he posted a 3.26 GAA and a .873 save percentage in 24 games. Bednář was drafted second overall by the

Acadie–Bathurst Titan The Acadie–Bathurst Titan were a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) based in Bathurst, New Brunswick. They were members of the Maritimes Division, and played their home games at the K. C. Ir ...

in the

CHL Import Draft The CHL Import Draft is an annual event in which every team in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) may select the rights to eligible import players. An import is classified as a player who does not have residency status in either Canada or the Un ...

. He was signed by the Titans on August 25, 2020. Having concluded his junior career with the Titan, on 15 March 2023, Bednář embarked on his North American professional career in signing a two-year AHL contract with the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional ice hockey team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL), playing their home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of t ...

, the primary affiliate to draft club, the

. He was then assigned to

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

affiliate, the

Toledo Walleye The Toledo Walleye are a professional ice hockey team based in Toledo, Ohio. The Walleye are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Walleye were founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm and play their home games ...

for the remainder of the 2022–23 season. He appeared in three games with a 1–1–0 record, a 3.01 GAA and a .901 save percentage. During the 2023–24 season, in his first full pro season in North America with the Walleye, he appeared in 36 regular season games and posted a 22–7–2 record, with a 2.66 GAA and a .901 save percentage. On 3 June 2024, Bednar signed a one-year contract extension with the Griffins. After three seasons within the Red Wings organization, Bednář left at the conclusion of his contract and returned to Europe in signing a one-year contract with Finnish club, Ässät of the Liiga, on 19 June 2025.

International play

Bednář represented the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

at the

2019 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2019 IIHF U18 World Championship was the 21st such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams participated at several levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2020 competition. One natio ...

, where he recorded a 3.21 GAA and a .892 save percentage. He represented the

at the

2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2022 WJHC'') was the 46th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, held from 9 to 20 August 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The tournament was originally schedul ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 2002 births Living people Acadie–Bathurst Titan players HC Baník Sokolov players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Czech ice hockey goaltenders Detroit Red Wings draft picks Grand Rapids Griffins players HC Karlovy Vary players Ice hockey people from Karlovy Vary Toledo Walleye players 21st-century Czech sportsmen {{CzechRepublic-icehockey-goaltender-stub