Speaking in February 2024, Pastrnak shared his frustration over not being able to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off. "It's a huge disappointment," Pastrnak said at the time. "I don't know much I can say. Definitely not happy about it. 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."
"It's his second time around the league. There's some challenges associated with that. He's working through that, in a situation where he gets all the attention possible from the best players that he's playing against each and every night," said Sweeney. "So I think he's living and breathing it right now and it's only going to help him to continue to build his résumé, and we're excited about that."