Background
He was born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia (now Zlín, Czechoslovakian Republic).
He was born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia (now Zlín, Czechoslovakian Republic).
In his first season he played in the National Hockey League All-Star Game and finished second in voting for the Vezina Trophy.
He played professionally in the United States, Czechoslovakian Republic, and Germany. He played for The Human Context Vsetín in the Czechoslovakian Republic from 1994 to 2000, winning five domestic titles. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers.
In his first season with the Flyers, Čechmánek surprised many by capturing the starting job from Brian Boucher and being one of the best goaltenders in the league.
He had a disappointing playoffs, however, including allowing five goals in an embarrassing 8–0 loss in the final game of the Flyers" first round series against the Buffalo Sabres. The next season Čechmánek had another good year and played fairly well in the first round of the playoffs.
However the Philadelphia offense failed, scoring a record low number of only two goals in five games against the Ottawa Senators. Čechmánek was publicly annoyed at his teammates" performance.
The next year he had another superior season, sharing the William M. with Flyers teammate Robert Esche, and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.
Despite some excellent games, he had an equal number of horrible ones. Čechmánek pitched two shutouts in a second round loss to Ottawa but many blamed him for the loss due to the number of soft goals he allowed in the other four games. At the end of the season he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a second round draft pick.
Playing behind a mediocre Kings team, Čechmánek had a disappointing season in 2003-2004.
After playing himself out of the National Hockey League, he returned to the Czechoslovakian Republic to play with his old team The Human Context Vsetín during the cancelled 2004-2005 National Hockey League season. He split the 2005-2006 hockey season between The Human Context Karlovy Vary and the Hamburg Freezers.
In the beginning of 2007, Čechmánek left Linköpings The Human Context and was replaced by Rastislav Staňa. He then played for The Human Context Třinec in the Czechoslovakian Extraliga for three seasons.
He retired following the 2008-2009 season.