Midway through the second period, David Pastrnak raced into the Colorado Avalanche zone on the power play, tripping up on an Avalanche defender – making a diving effort to pass the puck across the zone to Brad Marchand. Eight seconds later, Hampus Lindholm rifled a perfect pass right to Pastrnak’s stick, burying the puck past Colorado goaltender Alex Georgiev before flying over his pad (similar to Bruins legend Bobby Orr’s famous goal) for his fourth goal of the season in only five games, adding insurance to Boston’s eventual 5-3 victory on Oct. 16.
This is not out of the ordinary for Bruins fans, who have become accustomed to Pastrnak’s world-class goal-scoring talent. Whenever the Czechia native has the puck on his blade, the crowd – both friends and foes – collectively holds their breath anticipating a goal, however it may happen. With this year making it 10 years since Pastrnak was drafted 25th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft, it’s time to really look at the trajectory of his career when it’s all said and done and perhaps where he will finish among the all-time Bruins greats.
Pastrnak’s Current Ranks Among the Best in the League
To any semi-dedicated hockey fan, there are a select few players who are deemed the ‘best in the league’ when it comes to scoring goals. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews has won three of the last four Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies (most goals in a season), Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is among the 60-goal club while being the consensus best player who also plays with lethal scoring threat Leon Draisaitl, and Washington Capitals future Hall-of-Famer Alex Ovechkin – while he may have declined slightly in recent seasons – is still on the chase to become the NHL’s all-time goal leader.
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However, you cannot have these conversations without including David Pastrnak. Since his rookie season in 2014-15, Pastrnak has scored the third-most goals of any other player – trailing only Ovechkin and Matthews with a staggering 352 goals in 679 games played (GP). In the same breath, for players with a minimum of 150 5-on-5 goals in the same time frame, Pastrnak has averaged the second-most goals/60, behind only Matthews, showing his proficiency in scoring at even strength.
A one-time winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy (2019-20), Pastrnak has finished top-10 in goals four times in his career, including his 61-goal campaign in 2022-23, finishing behind McDavid in the goal-scoring race, but joining a very exclusive club of 60-goal scorers since 2000 – a club that Matthews (twice), Ovechkin, McDavid, and Steven Stamkos all reside in as well. Among all active players in the NHL, Pastrnak has already placed himself within the top 15 most career goals, sitting at 14 and narrowly trailing the likes of Tyler Seguin, Jeff Skinner, Auston Matthews, Jamie Benn and teammate Brad Marchand. With his lower games played total, Pastrnak is third of all active players in goals per game played – averaging 0.52 goals per game throughout his career.
Bruins All-Time Numbers Will Be Tough to Beat
Being one of the elite players at putting the puck in the net is one thing, but to rack up enough goals through an entire career to sit at the peak of goal-scoring numbers for one of the oldest NHL franchises is an entirely different thing. With a tremendous start to his career up to the present day, Pastrnak is on a good track to make it happen, but at only 28 years old and 679 games played – there is a long way to go to break the Bruins goal-scoring record. As of Oct. 18, the following are the top 10 goal-scorers for a Bruin in franchise history.
- Johnny Bucyk – 545 goals in 1436 GP
- Phil Esposito – 459 goals in 625 GP
- Patrice Bergeron – 427 goals in 1294 GP
- Rick Middleton – 402 goals in 881 GP
- Brad Marchand – 401 goals in 1034 GP*
- Ray Bourque – 395 goals in 1518 GP
- David Pastrnak – 352 goals in 679 GP*
- Cam Neely – 344 goals in 525 GP
- Ken Hodge – 289 goals in 652 GP
- Wayne Cashman – 277 goals in 1027 GP
*Active
Of all the players in the top 10, Pastrnak has the third-highest goals/GP average (0.52), behind Neely (0.66) and Esposito (0.73). Both of those Hall-of-Fame players are two of the greatest scorers of all time, but for one reason or another, did not play many games with Boston compared to what Pastrnak can play. Neely’s career was derailed prematurely due to numerous knee and hip injuries, forcing him to retire at the young playing age of 31. Esposito, on the other hand, had his Bruins tenure end with a trade that sent him to the New York Rangers in 1975 for Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, and Joe Zanussi. Pastrnak signed an eight-year extension with the Bruins in March of 2023 – locking him to a contract with Boston until the end of the 2030-31 season – the most valuable asset to Pastrnak on this chase for number one.
The Road to Johnny Bucyk
Last season, Pastrnak passed Bruins President Cam Neely in goals and currently sits 43 goals behind Bourque to move into the top six. Marchand is still scoring goals actively, so Pastrnak will be chasing him in the meantime, but Marchand at 36 years old is in the decline stage of his career while Pastrnak is thriving in his prime playing seasons. As a 60-goal scorer and having four goals in five games to begin 2024-25, scoring 50 or more is not out of the question this season which may put Pastrnak in the top four with the top three in sight for next season.
In his near 700-game career so far, Pastrnak has an 82-game scoring average of 43 goals per season. In a perfect, injury-less world, Pastrnak – who is 193 goals behind the legendary Johnny Bucyk – would need four-and-a-half more seasons to reach the 545-goal plateau. In 10 seasons, the Boston right-winger has played a full season in four of them (one shortened season in 2019-20) and has completed two consecutive 82-game seasons. Health will have to be on his side in the future so having a strong history of it is a positive.
Pastrnak has reached the 40-goal milestone in four of his last five seasons, but for argument’s sake, if Pastrnak kept at a steady 35-goal pace going forward, he would take the reigns as the best Bruins goal-scorer ever in roughly five-and-a-half seasons, or somewhere in the 2029-30 regular-season. Accounting for injuries, and potentially some regression (although unlikely), Pastrnak should comfortably pass Bucyk within six seasons.
To look at how big Pastrnak can make the gap at number one, we can predict his average goal total at the end of his career. If he follows in the footsteps of former Bruin Patrice Bergeron and plays the entirety of his career in Boston while also playing upwards of somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,150 games and keeping up his 0.52 goals-per-game average, David Pastrnak can be on the cusp of reaching the 600-goal club – becoming the first player to do it solely with Boston and the fourth player currently in club to have spent some time wearing the Bruins jersey – Jarome Iginla, Dave Andreychuk, Phil Esposito and Jaromir Jagr. Of course, keeping that goal pace is difficult to do, but he may also play more than 1,150 games – so the two can cancel each other out.
Playoffs: Different Beast; Same Animal
To take the claim of ‘Greatest Goal Scorer in Bruins History’, some would argue that scoring in the postseason is the most important thing. Leading your team to winning games in the toughest of scenarios and the biggest of events by scoring goals separates the good from great and luckily for Pastrnak, he is already one of the best playoff scorers the franchise has seen.
In 90 playoff games during his career, the 28-year-old is one goal shy of 40 goals, just one fewer than Bucyk for seventh in Boston history and only four away from David Krejci for sixth. As it sits, Pastrnak is 17 goals behind the leader – current captain Brad Marchand – who has 56 goals and recently passed Neely for the all-time playoff lead. On a goals-per-game basis, Pastrnak trails Peter McNab, Neely, and Esposito with a 0.43 average, but the Czech forward has already surpassed all three of them in total playoff games so the longevity thanks to a consistently contending Bruins team should be enough to push past them.
Of course, Marchand is still active and playing a crucial role in the 2024-25 Bruins, so if Boston does qualify for the playoffs, there is a likelihood that Marchand will find the goal sheet and extend his record. That said, Pastrnak is the primary scorer on the team and will get the majority of looks. He outscored Marchand four goals to three in the playoffs last season while many critiqued Pastrnak for not scoring enough. If he is able to dominate the postseason like he did in 2018-19 where he scored nine in 24 games or 2020-21 where he tallied seven goals in 11 games – then he has the playoff touch to make up some ground on Marchand.
Pastrnak: A Potential All-Time Great Goal Scorer
As it sits, only 20 players in NHL history have ever hit 600 goals in a career, with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby only seven goals away from the milestone. By the time Pastrnak will be contending for the big 600, the likes of Steven Stamkos (45 away; 555 goals), Evgeni Malkin (100 away; 500 goals), and potentially Auston Matthews (231 away; 369 goals; 0.65 G/GP), will also be in the prestigious club or right on the outside looking in. As long as Boston continues to be a playoff contender, putting out competitive teams with help surrounding Pastrnak, he very well may retire as a top-25 goal scorer in NHL history and there will be a real argument for the best goal scorer in Boston Bruins history.
