Czech-Slovak team at the Four Nations? Pastrňák speaks again about the NHL tournament. On paper, we’re the best in the world, says Bruins star

The famous NHL All-Star Game will be replaced next year by the Four Nations international tournament, but only players from four hockey countries will be there. That’s Canada, the USA, Sweden and Finland. However, David Pastrňák, after winning the gold medals, called for a change to include the Czech national team, possibly in conjunction with Slovakia.

TheAll-Star Game has been the subject of much criticism over the past few years, both in terms of attractiveness and the fact that it simply offers nothing new to attract a wide range of fans.

And so the NHL made the decision to replace the event. So, in the middle of the season, a tournament called the Four Nations Face-Off will be played, but without the participation of players from the Czech Republic.

The Four Nations, as the name implies, will be about four countries in 2025 – Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland.

Therefore, a number of stars with different nationalities will not play in the tournament. The star Pastrňák, who has already responded to this fact, specifically in the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast after winning gold at the World Championships.

The podcast is hosted by former NHL star back Ed Jovanovski, along with former star goaltender Marty Turco. Naturally, they had many questions for the Havířov native, and one of them was about what winning the World Championship means for Czech hockey.

Pastrňák about the Four Nations…

The current Bruins star first answered that winning the World Championship is always amazing, but being first at a domestic tournament is something else entirely. He mentioned that Czech hockey has been waiting for a gold medal for a very long time and the timing couldn’t have been better. He then seamlessly moved on to the Four Nations tournament.

“It’s a bit strange because on paper we are the best team in the world right now. Of course we would love to be in that tournament. But it would be a great thing for Czech hockey to be at the tournament,” Pastrňák said on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.

It should be added that the Czech team was not invited to the tournament due to the fact that it is a purely NHL tournament. The Czechs would not have put together enough players to make a complete team, especially in terms of defensemen. Anyway, Pastrňák suggested another solution, namely teaming up with the Slovaks.

“It would be great if we made a Czech-Slovak team. We used to be one country and it would be nice to bring it back a little bit for this tournament. I think together we would make a very strong team. We used to have a common country, now we are neighbours, we support each other. I like the Slovaks. We have almost the same language, I think it would be a good idea,” explained Pastrňák.

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