Boston Bruins superstar and Czechia native David Pastrnak voiced his displeasure about his country being excluded from next year's 4 Nations Face-Off.
The NHL and NHLPA announced the tournament last week. Scheduled for February 2025, the nine-day event will only feature Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland.
"It's a huge disappointment. … Definitely not happy about it," Pastrnak said, per Boston.com's Conor Ryan. "I understand that it's a quick turnaround. It's next year. They probably didn't have much time to make it a bigger tournament.
"But Czech isn't there. So it's always a lot of players left out, so I'm not gonna watch the tournament, to be honest. So just happy that the Olympics got accepted. Yeah, (it) definitely stings a little bit."
The NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF also announced commitments to the 2026 and 2030 Olympics after missing out on the past two Winter Games. The 4 Nations Face-off is the first event of a new-look international calendar that's scheduled to stage best-on-best tournaments every two years following the Milan Olympics.
The NHL hasn't participated in a best-on-best event since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Pastrnak last represented Czechia at the 2022 World Championship, helping his country to a bronze medal with 10 points in seven games. Although he's disappointed he can't suit up next year, he said he's "so pumped" for the Olympics.
"Obviously very frustrating for me, I missed two of them already," Pastrnak said. "So looking forward to (it). I'll be 30, I hope I make the team. But I'm super excited and pumped that the deal got done. It is a couple years away from now, but once the news came, I definitely was happy."
