David Pastrnak has been excluded from the NHL's next major event and he has decided to boycott it. It is likely that many others will follow in Pastrnak's footsteps.
Pastrnak and Others Excluded From The NHL's Next Major Event
It was recently announced that the NHL will be bringing in a tournament in place of the all-star game next season called the Four Nations Tournament.
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The four nations that will be competing are Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the USA which are the four largest hockey nations in the world at the moment.
However, many other nations are being excluded from the tournament including Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, and many others.
Boston Bruins superstar David Pastrnak, originally from Czechia, commented on being excluded.
"It's a huge disappointment. Definitely not happy about it," Pastrnak said. "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."
He added, "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."
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There are many other players that will not get their chance to shine including Germans Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stutzle, 2022 1st and 2nd overall picks Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec who are both Slovaks, and Russians Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin.
The batch will likely be able to represent their nations at the 2026 Olympics (minus the Russians) and prove that their nations are on par with the four competing in this tournament.
As seen on House of Hockey - Pastrnak Officially Boycotts Gary Bettman's Newest Event
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