With the NHL’s holiday roster freeze ending on Monday, teams have to wait to announce any pending transactions and roster moves. Barring any injuries between now and the end of Sunday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the Bruins will send a press release confirming that David Pastrnak will indeed suit up for the Czech Republic for the World Junior Championships that began Saturday in Finland.

After weeks of speculation, TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to tweet about the news early on Saturday.

It is more likely than not that BOS will loan David Pastrnak to CZE at WJC but it can’t happen until NHL roster freeze is lifted on Dec. 28.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 26, 2015

Several hours after McKenzie’s tweet, Bruins GM Don Sweeney confirmed that the team will loan Pastrnak to the Czech Republic for the next several days barring any injuries to the B’s forward. This will mark the second straight year that the Black and Gold made Pastrnak available for the annual two-week under-20 tournament.

The Bruins’ first round pick in 2014 suffered a foot injury and has not played for Boston since its Halloween matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was recently activated off of injured reserve and spent his last two games with the Providence Bruins on a conditioning assignment, where he tallied one assist.

“He is fully healthy. Now we need to get him back to where he’s back in our lineup,” Bruins GM Don Sweeney said during the first intermission of Saturday’s Bruins-Sabres contest. “We think that based on last year and his experience there and coming out of that tournament with the confidence that he had, that he’ll be able to come back to the full level that he had gotten to last year.”

In all likelihood, Pastrnak will return to Boston to join his teammates sometime after the Winter Classic. The World Junior Championships end on January 5th.

With the way the Black and Gold are playing as of late, there’s no need to rush things with Pastrnak. On the other hand, it could come back to haunt Pastrnak and the Bruins shall the Czech forward suffer an injury, much like the Maple Leafs are learning after one of their highly touted youngsters, William Nylander from Sweden was sent to the hospital after getting hit in the head by Switzerland’s Chris Egli.

“Well, there’s going to be a risk at any level of playing. You could argue that you’ve got a lot of bigger, stronger guys out here that would take advantage of a similar situation,” Sweeney said about the risk of another potential injury to Pastrnak during the WJC. “Hockey is hockey; injuries are going to happen.”

If he comes back healthy, a return to the Bruins lineup will happen for Pastrnak.

“Yeah, that would be our hope, that he would return with the confidence,” Sweeney added about Pastrnak, who had seven points in last year’s tournament. “Again, being off for seven weeks, that’s a long time for any player – let alone a 19-year-old player – to jump back into midstream at the National Hockey League level, and I think this will give him a real shot in the arm from a confidence standpoint.”