When pro athletes get on the horn with agents or GMs and receive word that they’ve been dealt to another organization, the news often jumpstarts a frantic stretch of hopping on flights, packing one’s life into U-Hauls, interviews, off-ice testing and ventures to find new living quarters — all usually packed into just a few days.
But when Pavel Zacha was informed on Wednesday that he was heading to Boston, it’s safe to assume that the 25-year-old forward breathed a sigh of relief.
Yes, Zacha might hail from Brno, Czech Republic. But for the last few years, he’s designated Boston as his offseason home — making his trade from New Jersey all the more easier to absorb this week.
Zacha, who already purchased a place in the area last year, views Boston as a no-brainer when it comes to a summer spot. Along with the fact that his fiancee hails from Needham, he received glowing reviews of the Commonwealth from both Brian Boyle and Jimmy Hayes during their time together on the Devils — especially the various pro circuits such as the one down in Foxborough that is often inundated with NHL talent.
“In Czech, you have like one, two, three guys in a city,” Zacha said in his first press conference with the Bruins on Thursday. “Here, there’s 10-15 guys you can train with, play, and play some golf in the summer. It’s such a big sports town. Everyone talks about hockey and stuff. It’s cool to be around it in the summer.”
Beyond his obvious ties to the region, Zacha is already feeling comfortable in the Bruins’ dressing room — even if training camp isn’t set to commence for at least another two months.
Zacha will have no shortage of fellow countrymen to share the room with in Boston, be it David Pastrnak, Jakub Zboril (and potentially … David Krejci) — with both Zacha and Zboril hailing from the same city in Czechia.
“Zboril, l I basically grew up with,” Zacha said. “I know him since I was four years old. So we're like best friends growing up. We played together until we were 13 and then the national teams together and stuff. So he texted me right away and it's just funny how it played out for us that, after 15 years, getting back to playing together? It's gonna be a lot of fun.
“With Pastrnak, he's only one year older than me so we played national teams together. We were linemates on the national team and stuff. So it's great to know a lot of players coming here to the team and everyone's been really nice so far who I talked to.”
The Bruins will be hoping that the chemistry brewed up between Pastrnak and Zacha during their time together on the Czechia national teams carries over into the NHL ranks.
Boston might planning (or hoping) for both Patrice Bergeron and Krejci to return and anchor the B’s lineup down the middle, but with Brad Marchand (hip surgery) likely out for the first two months of the regular season, Zacha could be staring at a hefty dose of top-six minutes on the wing, along with regular reps on the top power-play unit.
“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,” Don Sweeney said of Zacha. “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.”
As we noted in our breakdown of Zacha’s game, his baseline production may not exactly pop (his 36 points last season represented a career-high), but Zacha does have the transition talents and the two-way acumen to succeed in Boston’s lineup — especially if he’s eventually entrenched on a third-line role next to Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith.
“I think there’s big room for improvement for me,” Zacha said of his game. “I think this is gonna be a great opportunity and a restart for me being on this team and having a lot of other players who can help me reach where I want to be as a player. “The last couple of years, I’ve played better than before, but it also wasn’t even close to where I can be. I’m excited to have a restart in my career and be better than I was last year.”
Once the status of both Bergeron and Krejci are confirmed, Zacha will be able to get a bit more clarity in regards to where exactly he will fit on Boston’s depth chart. But for now, the B’s latest acquisition is just excited to be in a spot he’s already called home — especially after getting a call from Bergeron shortly after the deal went down.
“Growing up, being a centerman, too. He's the guy that I was looking up to," Zacha said of Bergeron. "Really great two-way center and getting a call from him and how nice he was and welcoming and telling me that he's gonna meet me in camp and he's excited to talk to me and stuff. So that's something from a captain and leader — to hear that coming in? It's great. So I'm just excited to meet him in person and talk to him.”
At this point, the only post-trade hurdle that Zacha might need to clear with his new team? Finding a new jersey number.
"It's hard, I was looking at the numbers,” said Zacha, who has donned a No. 37 sweater throughout his seven-year career. “A lot of numbers taken and stuff. But I was just talking to some of the staff and I'm not very big into numbers. 37 in Jersey was given to me the first day of training camp when I came there, so I never wore 37 before and I guess I'm not gonna have it here. But numbers are not a big thing for me, and we'll see what I end up with.”
