Outside of Canada I do not know if there is a more hockey crazed country than Slovakia. That being said, they are not yet a contender for gold. They continue to lack a true star goaltender and defensive depth beyond big Zdeno Chara. Their generation of offensive weapons has mostly aged.
Goaltending - Peter Budaj and Jaroslav Halak will battle for the top job, although ideally they would make passable #3s on any other top nation. That being said, no one expected Finland's Antero Niitymaki to turn in the second coming of Bernie Parent back in 2006, so perhaps the Slovakian goaltending will surprise us. Slovakia better hope so.
Defense - Slovakia arguably boasts the best defenseman in the world in Zdeno Chara, but he has next to no supporting cast. In such situations he tries to do too much, rendering himself almost inefficient.
Lubomir Vishnovsky and Andrei Meszaros have emerged and will take some heat off of Big Z. The Slovaks need Andrej Sekera and Milan Jurcina to develop quicker than they will, seeing as they are the Slovaks only other regular NHL employed defensemen.
Forwards - In the past Slovakia boasted an embarrassment of offensive riches up front, but that generation is aging and slowing down. Marian Hossa will be the Slovak's top forward, and, with a little luck from the injury gods, Marian Gaborik will finally break out.
Otherwise the likes of Pavol Dimetra, Miro Satan, Marek Svatos, Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy and Richard Zednik are all solid NHL players, though their play has flatlined if not descending.
Summary - The Slovaks have some good players. Just not enough elite players.
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