Zacha Already a Familiar Face Around Bruins Dressing Room

BOSTON - Pavel Zacha's post-trade transition is sure to be a bit smoother than most.
For starters, the 25-year-old, acquired by the Bruins from New Jersey for Erik Haula on Wednesday morning, doesn't have to move, having made his offseason home in Boston for several summers.

As such, Zacha is already quite familiar with a number of faces around the Bruins dressing room, including Massachusetts natives Charlie Coyle and Marc McLaughlin, both of whom train locally during the summer.
The Czechia native also has some countrymen around to help guide him through a new dressing room. Zacha grew up with Jakub Zboril in their hometown of Brno, while also skating alongside David Pastrnak as a linemate for the country's national team.
All in all, seems like a pretty good fit.
"It's great. I know a lot of guys. I train here in Boston in the summer and stay here during the summer, so I know a lot of players," Zacha said on Thursday afternoon following a tour of Warrior Ice Arena. "The Czech players who are on the team here, too. Every time I play against them, it's a tough team to play against. Being a part of it is really exciting for me.
"Mentally, it helps me that people are excited to have me on the team. I know how excited I am to be here…it's been, so far, easier than I expected."
Zacha began spending his offseason in Boston several years back when New Jersey teammates and Massachusetts natives Brian Boyle and Jimmy Hayes suggested that he come up to train with them in Foxborough. The 2015 first-rounder (sixth overall) took them up on their offer, which made all the more sense with his now-fiancée hailing from Needham.
"I was like, 'OK, let's make a summer here. I'm going to try to train here.' It worked out really well," said Zacha, who remains a restricted free agent in need of a new contract. "I've trained here every summer since then. I really like it, met a lot of people. It's a big hockey town. You have a chance to skate and train with a lot of good hockey players. I like to spend summers here."

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound forward liked it so much that he purchased a home in Boston last summer and has continued his offseason training at Thayer Academy in nearby Braintree.
"I just think a lot of guys that I met here are really friendly, invited me for dinners and stuff. In Czech you have two [or] three guys in a city, and here there are 10-15 guys where you can train with and play some golf with in the summer," said Zacha.
"It's such a big sports town, everyone talks about hockey. It's just cool to be around it in the summer and have the opportunity to do that."
Zacha said that Zboril, his best friend as a child in Brno, texted him immediately to say how excited he was to be teammates once again.
"Zboril I basically grew up with since I was four years old. We were like best friends growing up," said Zacha. "We played together until we were 13 and then spent national teams together. He texted me right away. It's funny how it played out for us. After 15 years, we're back to playing together. It's gonna be a lot of fun."
Zacha, who three times represented his country at the IIHF World Junior Championship (2014-16), has also been linemates with Pastrnak on the Czech national team.
"[Pastrnak's] only one year older than me," said Zacha. "He was always very skilled player, very good player. A great guy off the ice as everyone knows here…such a good goal scorer and player in the league. It's great to play with him before and tell your friends that you played with Pasta. I'm really happy for [his success]."
There was also a welcome conversation with someone who Zacha hopes will be a new teammate. While Patrice Bergeron has yet to announce his official decision regarding a return next season, the Boston captain did find time to reach out to Zacha and welcome him to the Black & Gold.
"It was great," said Zacha. "Growing up, being a centerman, too - he's a really great two-way center. Getting a call from him and how nice he is and welcoming. Told me that he's gonna meet me at camp and he's excited to talk to me. That's something from a captain and leader to hear that coming in is great. I'm just excited to see him in person and talk to him."
Zacha, however, will have to find a new number.
"It's hard. I was looking at the numbers," said Zacha, who has worn No. 37 for his entire career. "There's a lot of numbers taken. I was just talking to the staff…I'm not big into the numbers. The 37 in Jersey was given to me the first day of training camp when I came there.
"I never wore 37 before [that]. I guess I'm not gonna have that here. Number's not a big thing for me. We'll see what I end up with."

Everything else you need to know about the new Bruins forward:

Last team: New Jersey Devils
Position: Forward
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 210 pounds
Shoots: Left
Birthday: April 6, 1997
Hometown: Brno, Czech Republic
Twitter: @Pavel_Zacha
Miscellaneous: The 25-year-old has spent his entire seven-year career with the New Jersey Devils, including a career year in 2021-22, during which he recorded a career-high 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 70 games. Zacha hit a high mark in goals with 17 in just 50 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
"There's big room for improvement for me," said Zacha. "This is going to be a great opportunity and restart for me being on this team. A lot of players who can help me reach where I want to be as a player…the last couple years I played better than I did before but it wasn't even close to where I can be. I'm excited to restart a little bit of my career and be better than I was last year."
Zacha said he met briefly with new Bruins coach Jim Montgomery during his visit to Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday but has yet to discuss any specifics regarding what his role might be come this fall.
"I just met him a couple minutes ago. I played against him when he was in Dallas a couple years ago," said Zacha. "When he called me, he seemed like a really nice guy. He has a vision for this team. I'm just excited to meet him, get some talks with him and know what he expects from me and what I can bring to the table and go from there.
"I'm excited to see everyone at camp…it's gonna be really competitive team for season to go for playoffs. I'll see where they put me in training camp, see what my situation is going to be here. I don't have that big of expectations of where I'm gonna be put at.
"I leave it on the coaching staff. I'm just ready to come here and do my best to help the team in any way I can."
Scouting Report:Zacha is a versatile forward (he can play center and wing) with size (6-3, 210 pounds) who was selected sixth overall by the Devils in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. He is a restricted free agent and will need to be signed to a new contract with his previous three-year deal (paying him an annual NHL cap hit of $2.25 million) expiring.
"I suppose a little of it depends on Patrice and David [Krejci] both in that sense," Bruins GM Don Sweeney said on Wednesday when asked where Zacha might fit in the lineup. "He's more than comfortable playing all three positions and being productive. And again, we can always move other people around.
"I think he sees himself as a center and he's excited to be joining the Boston Bruins. We're excited to have him. Not really worried about the position, I think down the road he's definably a center. I think that helps us if we're able to find the term and agreement."
Sweeney did say that Zacha will have plenty of offensive opportunity, particularly on the power play, early in the season with Brad Marchand still expected to be recovering from offseason hip surgery.
"Obviously, that's what you hope for when you make a trade of this nature and a player that was drafted and has the skillset that he has," said Sweeney. "He's had opportunity in situations, playing with better players for periods of time - albeit in a younger environment. So, he'll have a chance to hopefully play in a top-nine scenario with us.
"And with March being out, a significant opportunity early on with power play and situational play that he can benefit from. But we do believe there's more potential there, and that's up to Pavel to take advantage of the opportunities he's presented with."