Pastrnak and the rest of Czechia’s hockey brethren, including fellow Bruin Pavel Zacha, will get down to the business of toting sticks and chasing pucks when the Czechs open play Thursday vs. the favored Canadians. Bruins/Americans Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman will report to the rink the same day, when Uncle Sam opens up against Latvia (and Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis, ex-of UMass).

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Fellow Bruins Elias Lindholm and Hampus Lindholm are there for Sweden, along with Black and Gold teammates Henri Jokiharju and Joonas Korpisalo for the Finns. Finland and Sweden face each other Friday. The Finns (vs. Slovakia) and Swedes (vs. Italy) open up the men’s schedule on Wednesday.

There’s plenty there to command the attention of Boston hockey fans. We’re a long way from the day when Hub of Hockey fans focused their Olympic interest on the play of Boston University Terriers Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Dave Silk, and Jack O’Callahan — even longer from when it was Billy and Bob Cleary and Jack Kirrane who captured our imagination.

NHL players, fully aware of the stress it put on their schedules, bodies, and minds to return to Olympus, led the effort to shut down the NHL again — for the first time since 2014 — for three weeks in order to get another kick at the Five Rings can.

If injured in their quest, that lust for gold could prove to be what keeps them from seeing their names etched into the silvery Stanley Cup some four months later. Legacy has its underlying risks in the market of trading of precious medals.

For the NHL at large, the risk is different, but worth it for the exposure it offers the league on the world stage. Technically, there is no financial hit at the gate, because the 32-team league will complete its normal 82-game schedule (to be bumped to 84 next season) once the boys are finished over there.

The hesitation among team owners, league administrators, and marketers, dating to the 1980s and ’90s, always has been about going dark with the NHL brand for three weeks in the thick of the season.

The NHL has faced bigger concerns, and overcome them, with its history of locking players out for protracted stretches (once including a full season) when negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association. The resilience of the fan base has proven to be tougher than the back of Gordie Howe’s neck, harder than Dave Schultz’s hammer.

The NBA, with its far richer broadcast deals, watches its guys suit up in the Summer Olympics, causing no disruption to the regular-season schedule and, in fact, helping to market the dawn of a new season that awaits just weeks after the gold, silver, and bronze medals get draped around the rank and file’s necks. NBA players have their risk of injury, too, but not to the same degree as their hockey counterparts.

If hurt, NBA players don’t face the heavy lift of having to parachute right back into the action when clubs are sorting out playoff seeds and DNQs. A player who sustains a serious injury in July can target, say, January or February, to get back in the game. The Bruins return to action Feb. 26 against the visiting Blue Jackets, four days after the Olympic gold-medal game.

For those reasons and more, there’s a strong case to make for sliding the hockey tournament into the Summer Games. It would play all kinds of havoc with the standard hockey life cycle. Imagine tuning in to, say, Sweden-USA, on a hot July afternoon on Craigville Beach? Holy Dos Equis! But players would be rested (albeit a bit rusty), under less pressure once back with their NHL teams, and the regular season not pre-fitted with a three-week “pause” button.

None of that will be on the minds of players or viewers once the puck goes down in Italy. For the first time in a dozen years, the NHL’s best (save for the disbarred sons of the CCCP) will dance among the Rings.

Their love of country these next 2-3 weeks will supersede that of the fortunes they earn in North America, where the chasing of legacy is an annual event measured in dollars, cents, and the chance to kiss an ancient, shimmering Cup.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.