He played for HC Vsetín in the Czech Republic from 1994 to 2000, winning five domestic titles. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL 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. In his first season, he played in the NHL All-Star Game and finished second in voting for the Vezina Trophy. 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. Jennings Trophy with Flyers teammate Robert Esche, and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. 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 2003–04. He returned to the Czech Republic to play with his old team HC Vsetín during the cancelled 2004–05 NHL season. He split the 2005–06 hockey season between HC Karlovy Vary and the Hamburg Freezers. In the beginning of 2007, Čechmánek left Linköpings HC and was replaced by Rastislav Staňa. He then played for HC Třinec in the Czech Extraliga for three seasons. He retired following the 2008–09 season.
His only Olympic appearance was for the Czech Republic in the 1998 Winter Olympics, serving as backup to star goaltender Dominik Hašek, although he did not play a single game. Čechmánek won a gold medal after the Czech team defeated Russia 1–0 in the gold medal deciding game. His other appearances were in the 2004 and 2007 IHWC, also with the Czech Republic team.
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Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round of the NHL Entry Draft — 24 June 2000.
Traded by Flyers to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round selection in 2004 entry draft — 28 May 2003.
