Pastrnak 'chilling' with Team Czechia ahead of pressure-filled Olympics

MILAN -- David Pastrnak is a star in the NHL. He's even bigger in Czechia.

The Boston Bruins forward has reached iconic status in his home country and is arguably the most recognizable current athlete there, entering the national sporting hero status reserved for Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek.

"He's at the Jagr level, for sure," said Jakub Voracek, who played for the Czech national team for a decade and played 1,058 NHL regular-season games for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers from 2008 to 2022.

There's responsibility and pressure that comes with such stature, and Pastrnak will be heavily scrutinized at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Not that you would know it.

"He's just a guy enjoying the moment," Team Czechia forward Tomas Hertl said Monday. "He's never nervous; that's probably why he is so good."

Pastrnak is really good, in the NHL and internationally.

He leads the Bruins in scoring, and is sixth in the League, with 71 points (22 goals, 49 assists) in 52 games this season. The 29-year-old is aiming for his fourth straight season of at least 100 points and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the 2019-20 season, when he scored 47 goals.

Pastrnak scored the gold medal-winning goal for Czechia at the 2024 IIHF World Championship. The following year, he had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) when Czechia finished sixth.

Those are credentials that give his star such luminance, why he is in the same galaxy as the biggest players to don the national team jersey.

Hertl grew up idolizing Jagr, a member of the national team that won the Olympics in 1998, the first time NHL players participated in the tournament. But Hertl knew him as much as an NHL star who was rewriting the record books for multiple teams during his heyday.

Jagr was Hertl's hero. The Vegas Golden Knights forward wanted to play like Jagr and, early in his career, was measured against Jagr. Now, he sees a new generation revering Pastrnak in the same manner.

"When we were all growing up, everybody loved Jagr because he was a star and now its David," said Hertl, who also put Team Czechia and Colorado Avalanche forward Martin Necas in that category. "We need that. We need to show that we can still produce the best hockey players.

"Obviously, what he is doing for Boston now is amazing and hopefully he will be amazing for this team as well."

Here, Pastrnak is on the biggest stage of his career, occupying a moment he dreamed about since he was a child, one that seemed so far away until the NHL returned to Olympic play for this cycle.

"My whole career, I have been waiting," Pastrnak said after practice at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. "For a kid in Europe, you don't have much chance to watch NHL because of the time change, so all you do is watch Olympics and the national team, so this is an amazing feeling."

Czechia opens Group A play against Team Canada on Thursday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, CBC) Canada has won each of the past two Olympics in which NHL players participated (2010, 2014). It also plays Switzerland and France during the preliminary round.

That's all in the future. For now, Pastrnak is soaking in this experience.

"We go game by game, enjoying the moment," he said, flashing the beguiling smile that has made him a commercial star in North America. "We've been waiting, pretty much our generation, all of our career to play in an Olympics. So far, enjoying every second of it. Being at Olympics is a dream come true."

That attitude is one his teammates here are eager to embrace. Pastrnak sets the tone and they follow.

"We feel like he's just chilling," forward Ondrej Palat said. "He is obviously a superstar in the NHL, but it's so much fun to play with him and just watch. He's very relaxed, just chilling, doing the things he loves, and he's playing very loose."

Voracek says the pressure is looming for Pastrnak, as it does for the game's greats. Soon it will find Pastrnak here.

"Every time he laces them up anywhere -- Boston, Czech -- there is always pressure on 'Pasta,'" Voracek said. "There's always pressure to score, pressure to win the game, always pressure to do this. So far, in his career, he delivers. So, he's used to it.

"There's a different excitement maybe, but his approach to the Olympics is going to be the same as every other game -- enjoy it and find a way to win, no matter how."

Pastrnak doesn't acknowledge the pressure, saying it's a team game and that he and his teammates, "are in this together and we will win as one and lose as one."

Czechia has two more practice days before the test begins against the powerhouse Canadians.

Then and there, Pastrnak will be ready to author the next chapter in his story, possibly raising his profile even higher, if that is even possible.

He won't rush the moment. That's not his style.

"I want it to start, but I know when it starts its going to go so fast," he said.