photo: © IIHF / Dominic Ebenbichler
During the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, short profiles of each of this year's Hall of Fame inductees will appear on IIHF.com in the build-up to the IIHF Hall of Fame weekend (May 24-25). There will be two ceremonies. The Contributors' Awards ceremony takes place on May 24, followed by the IIHF Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on May 25. Both ceremonies will be shown live on the IIHF's YouTube channel and IIHF.TV.
David Vyborny is the only player of the post-perestroika era to win as many as five gold medals at the Men’s World Championship, and he did so during a sensational period in Czech hockey. Playing in every Men’s Worlds between 1996 and 2007, 12 in a row, he won eight medals—five gold, one silver, two bronze. And, he was part of the golden age of Czech hockey that won three in a row, 1999-2001 at a time when defence was at a premium and scoring at its most difficult.
Vyborny developed in the Czech league with Sparta Praha and first made a name for himself in the international world with a sensational tournament at the 1993 World Juniors. He finished third in tournament scoring with 15 points in just seven games, including six goals, and led the Czech/Slovak team to a bronze medal. He had a goal and three assists in a critical 6-5 win over the United States; six points (3+3) in a 14-2 win over Japan; a goal and two assists in a win over Germany; and, two points in an impressive 7-4 defeat of gold medallists Canada. On the strength of this, Vyborny was drafted 33rd overall by the Edmonton Oilers that summer. He played for the team’s AHL affiliate a year later, but after one season returned home, where he was happiest.
As a new team, the Blue Jackets didn’t have much playoff success, and this allowed Vyborny to represent his country virtually every spring. He helped the Czechs win gold at the 1996 Men’s Worlds, their first since 1985, and after two bronze medals in 1997 and ’98, they ran off three gold medals in a row. Vyborny is only the second player from that era to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, after longtime captain Robert Reichel, a testament to the team-first approach of coaches Ivan Hlinka and Josef Augusta.
Vyborny’s last gold came in 2005, at the end of the NHL’s lockout season. Facing many of Canada’s best players in the gold-medal game, the Czechs prevailed, 3-0. In all, Vyborny played in 104 Men’s Worlds games, tied for 12th most all-time. He also played in one Olympics, one World Cup, and two World Juniors, and his career, split equally between the NHL and Czech league, spanned a quarter century.
Vyborny developed in the Czech league with Sparta Praha and first made a name for himself in the international world with a sensational tournament at the 1993 World Juniors. He finished third in tournament scoring with 15 points in just seven games, including six goals, and led the Czech/Slovak team to a bronze medal. He had a goal and three assists in a critical 6-5 win over the United States; six points (3+3) in a 14-2 win over Japan; a goal and two assists in a win over Germany; and, two points in an impressive 7-4 defeat of gold medallists Canada. On the strength of this, Vyborny was drafted 33rd overall by the Edmonton Oilers that summer. He played for the team’s AHL affiliate a year later, but after one season returned home, where he was happiest.
Vyborny’s five gold medals is unprecedented in modern times.
It wasn’t until the year 2000, when expansion Columbus showed interest in him, that he returned to North America to give the NHL a real chance. He scored a goal in his first game and never looked back. Vyborny played for the Union Blue for seven seasons, establishing himself as a skilled forward. In 2008, he returned home and played the final six years of his career in the Czech league, retiring in 2016 at age 41.As a new team, the Blue Jackets didn’t have much playoff success, and this allowed Vyborny to represent his country virtually every spring. He helped the Czechs win gold at the 1996 Men’s Worlds, their first since 1985, and after two bronze medals in 1997 and ’98, they ran off three gold medals in a row. Vyborny is only the second player from that era to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, after longtime captain Robert Reichel, a testament to the team-first approach of coaches Ivan Hlinka and Josef Augusta.
Vyborny’s last gold came in 2005, at the end of the NHL’s lockout season. Facing many of Canada’s best players in the gold-medal game, the Czechs prevailed, 3-0. In all, Vyborny played in 104 Men’s Worlds games, tied for 12th most all-time. He also played in one Olympics, one World Cup, and two World Juniors, and his career, split equally between the NHL and Czech league, spanned a quarter century.