David Pastrnak is the player the Boston Bruins have been waiting for. (Photo courtesy of Alison M. Foley)

David Pastrnak is back in Boston, as he showed up this week for the annual pre-training camp captain’s practice sessions, which sees the gradual return to the ice of Bruins players.

Pastrnak’s arrival so soon (we’re still a little more than 2 weeks from the time the veteran players are required to report) is an indicator of the young forward’s seriousness, though it’s not all that surprising to those who know him. Last year, Torey Krug went out of his way to talk about how dedicated the NHL’s youngest player was (he didn’t turn 19 until May- a month after the B’s packed up and headed home), showing a maturity beyond his years.

Some people like to talk about how hard they work, but Pastrnak goes out and does it. When character guys like Krug notice that, then you know you’re doing something right.

I said in my 2016 Bruins season preview series that Pastrnak is the player Boston has been waiting for, and that’s more and more evident by the day. He’s arguably the most purely talented player on the roster, but his humility, enthusiasm and love for what he does provides the best possible example for everyone around him, from rookie to veteran alike.

He’s up to about 180 pounds, which will better help him to endure the rigors of the 82-game regular season schedule plus exhibition and potentially more in the playoffs (if the Bruins get in). That’s a good weight gain that gives him a good starting point going into camp. With his body type, he’ll likely lose more over the course of the season- every little bit will help him in the corners, along the walls and in front of the net.

I profiled Pastrnak a year ago in January, right after his outburst of 4 goals in a two-game stretch that secured his place with the big club for the duration of the 2014-15 hockey campaign. For a guy who was still trying to figure out the English thing, I thought he was extremely well spoken, and he reminded me of a young David Krejci, who despite a thick Czech accent and near-whisper when he spoke, said some of the more profound (by hockey dressing room standards) things of anyone on the roster circa 2008-10.

He talked to me about his love for the game and how sometimes, like a typical kid, he just didn’t feel like playing or practicing. Instead of forcing him go, his parents let him make his own decision. That approach seems to have worked out for him, and though still a teenager, he could moonlight as a hockey advice guru with quotes like this one:

“My mom told me that sometimes I didn’t want to go to practice so she (would) just leave me (at home). My parents were never like, ‘ you have to go practice’ they always asked me: ‘do I want to go practice?’ and I said yes or no, but if I said no, I stayed home. I think that’s an important thing too, because right now some parents are just pushing their children to play hockey all the time and that’s maybe how they stop liking it, you know?”

Growing up in the one-rink coal-mining town of Havirov, Pastrnak rode the city bus to practice and games, sometimes wearing his gear and carrying his skates and stick. As long as he could get to the rink on time, it didn’t matter to him how he got there.

Now, at 19, he’s on the verge of something special in Boston. Those cynics who want to waste their time cracking wise about the Bruins now being primed to trade him can chortle and giggle at their so-called cleverness all they want, but they miss the point entirely about what the management team is trying to do. Just as the club once cultivated and groomed a young teen named Patrice Bergeron to be a key contributor and leader, they are doing the same for Pastrnak. Unlike former Bruins Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin, Pastrnak has given the team myriad reasons to hold onto him and invest the millions going forward that it will take as he matures into a league star. The other two are stars as well, but for whatever reason, they either could not or would not embrace the ethos that right or wrong, the Bruins expected them to.

Pastrnak doesn’t have that problem.

He is a player everyone can get behind.

And that’s the memo.

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You can read the complete profile of David Pastrnak in the February 2015 edition of New England Hockey Journal here:

http://digital.hockeyjournal.com/nxtbooks/seamans/nehj_201502/index.php?startid=10

David Pastrnak, Emil Johansson and Zane McIntyre take a break during 2014 Bruins development camp (photo courtesy of Alison M. Foley)