Pastrnak admitted that he kept himself out of the business side of the contract discussions, instead entrusting Barry to come to the best agreement possible. The time difference - the Czech Republic is some six hours ahead of the East Coast - certainly helped in that regard.
"Both sides wanted to get it done as soon as it could be done," said Pastrnak, noting there was no real deadline to complete the contract. "To be honest, I really left it to J.P. to do his job. It was my first time - I didn't really know how it works, so didn't really go much into it. Same with Don Sweeney, he's done many contracts. I left it for more experienced guys…but the time change was a little bit harder, usually they were talking when I was sleeping.
"I didn't have much time to think about it….I was just dreaming."
The contract, which carries through the 2022-23 season, will pay Pastrnak an average annual value of $6.67 million, making him the fourth-highest paid player on the Bruins roster. And after a 34-goal, 70-point output during his breakout 2016-17 campaign, expectations are sure to rise. Just don't anticipate Pastrnak to be putting any added pressure on himself.
"Not for me, unless you guys [the media] are gonna put the pressure on me," Pastrnak said with a smile. "For me it's still hockey and I'm excited to be back and I want to play as much as I can, just help the team. It's fun to play here and [I'm] happy that I can come back to the Garden."
Now that he has arrived back in Boston, Pastrnak can turn his attention to fully preparing himself for the upcoming season. The travel kept him off the ice for a couple of days, but he seemed to keep up with the pace just fine during Saturday's session.
"He had a big smile on his face when he walked in early this morning," said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. "It was good to see him around, the guys are happy to have him back. On the ice, I won't judge him on his first day like I don't judge a lot of guys. But he's a good player and makes good plays."