Boston Bruins
“I would love to score goals again, obviously. But you guys know how I feel about playmaking.”
On a Bruins depth chart rife with uncertainty, youth, and question marks, David Pastrnak stands as a constant.
The 30-year-old Bruins winger has an established track record of shredding opposing defenses, regardless of the personnel around him.
Despite all of the overhaul that has impacted Boston’s forward corps since the end of the Bergeron era, Pastrnak has continued to elevate his game.
He has reached the 100-point mark in four straight seasons, scoring 180 goals and 429 points over that stretch of 323 total games.
He may no longer be the trigger-man on a line next to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. But, Pastrnak has augmented his game in recent years as one of the most gifted playmakers in the league — ranking first in the NHL in primary assists at 5-on-5 play since the start of the 2023-24 season.
It’s a luxury for Marco Sturm and his coaching staff when it comes to utilizing Pastrnak. After all, the Czech-born winger has seemingly driven whatever grouping he’s been with over the last few years.
But could Boston — and Pastrnak, by extension — be even better off by finding the ideal pieces to slot around their best player?
It’s an ongoing process for Sturm and the Bruins, one that could further elevate an already superstar talent if Boston has the willingness to rework its forward corps in the coming weeks.
Because, at this stage of his career, Pastrnak’s talents in the offensive zone are well-established.
Pastrnak might have first put himself on the map thanks to his blistering one-timer — a howitzer of a shot that hasn’t waned in power over the years, as evidenced by his 61-goal campaign in 2022-23.
But, the frequency with which Pastrnak uncorks that shot has dipped significantly lately, as he’s now more of a playmaker than an outright finisher on a Bruins roster that has undergone a painful talent drain and retool in recent years.
Pastrnak set a new career-high with 71 assists last season — oftentimes skating on a line with Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm. Pastrnak’s vision and ability to collapse defensive structures by drawing skaters in to him has benefited shot-ready teammates like Geekie over the last few years.
But, Pastrnak’s standing as one of the league’s most feared snipers has taken a hit as a result. His 29 tallies in 2025-26 stands as his fewest in a full NHL season since the 2015-16 campaign.
He’s also lit the lamp on the power play 19 times over the last two seasons (159 total games) — including tallying just two goals on the man advantage over the final 41 games of the 2025-26 campaign.
Some of that is a byproduct of Pastrnak putting fewer pucks on net, with his 261 total shots last year marking his fewest in a full season since 2018-19.
That goes hand in hand with his shifting role as more of a playmaker than shooter as Boston’s top dog up front.
Speaking last week, Sturm didn’t raise any alarms over Pastrnak’s offensive output, considering that the Bruins winger is still hitting triple digits in points, year in and year out.
“He can do it all. But I’m not at that point where I say he’s going to drive me crazy because he’s not shooting enough,” Sturm said of Pastrnak. “I’m not there at that point yet. Even last year I was never there. There were a few times, of course, where I was like maybe he could shoot the puck more.
“But then all of a sudden, he makes an unbelievable play, and his linemate scores. So you’ve got to be really careful with him because he’s such a good player and he’s so smart. He creates so much because he’s that good. And I don’t want to be in his ear all the time. I always have to make sure I catch him at the right time. But as long as he’s producing, I’m good either way.”
For what it’s worth, Pastrnak isn’t fretting over his dip in goals — so long as he continues to stuff the stat sheet with assists and drive play.
“I would love to score goals again, obviously. But you guys know how I feel about playmaking. I love it,” Pastrnak added. “I will always pass if I see a guy in better position to score than me. Of course everybody wants to score goals. That’s the beauty part about it. But at the same time … I’d love to do both.”
The Bruins could ideally have both when it comes to Pastrnak’s O-zone gifts. That might require shuffling up his linemates moving forward — or at the very least, finding more consistent options to pair with him.
While Pastrnak spent most of his time next to Geekie and Lindholm in 2025-26, he found himself tasked with driving multiple lines over the course of the season as a quick remedy for lagging offense.
In total, Pastrnak was part of four different Bruins lines that logged at least 100 minutes of 5-on-5 reps last season.
The Geekie-Lindholm-Pastrnak line was the most utilized of that grouping, but Boston didn’t exactly tilt the ice in its favor when that line was called on — with the Bruins getting outscored, 19-16, in their 347 minutes together in 2025-26.
Meanwhile, Pastrnak thrived on a line next to a pair of youngsters in Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov last year. Boston outscored its competition, 15-6, in that line’s 188 minutes of 5-on-5 reps.
Based on the first four days of Boston’s training camp, it looks as though Sturm wants to keep Minten and Khusnutdinov next to James Hagens, with Pastrnak opening the year back on a line with Geekie and Lindholm.
That top-line trio could get their first look together this year during Tuesday’s preseason bout against the Flyers at TD Garden.
“What I like about them is they’re a threat,” Sturm said of sticking with Geekie, Lindholm, and Pastrnak. “Lot of goals on that line. Also you have a centerman — you don’t see it, but he takes care of those two with any mistakes. The biggest thing is they’re so skilled and they have the ability to score when they’re on the ice.
“Where they have to be better is just taking care of the puck better. A few times last season they were losing pucks, costly turnovers. They probably spent a little too much time in their own end. So if they can control the puck a little more, it would be very good.”
Time will tell if Sturm and the Bruins keep that line intact. or if Pastrnak is better served skating alongside other fleet-footed skaters like JJ Peterka, Hagens, or any other concoction of talent that could prompt Boston’s best player to pepper the net more often.
It’s a task that will likely bleed into the regular season, given how abbreviated this camp and preseason slate is.
But it could make a Bruins offense already heavily reliant on Pastrnak even better if he starts finding the back of the net more often — and support even more talent around him on a rapidly evolving Boston roster.
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