David Pastrnak participated in his first All-Star game over the weekend. On Friday night, he went five for five in accuracy shooting in the Skills Competition with a time of 11,309 seconds, beating out Kris Letang and Drew Doughty.
On Saturday night, Pastrnak represented the Boston Bruins in the 3-on-3 All-Star Game. Playing for the Atlantic Division, he recorded two assists on four goals in a loss to the Metropolitan Division.
Even though Czech winger is still just 22 years old, he has become the star player the Bruins are looking for. This is a far cry from the 25th overall pick in the first round of the NHL Draft in 2014 in Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Pastrnak made his NHL debut the next season at TD Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two months later he scored his first NHL goal in Wells Fargo Center on January 2015. That afternoon he recorded two goals, and the rest is history.
After posting 10 goals and 27 points in 46 games as a rookie, next season Pastrnak collected 15 goals and 26 points in 51 games played. Entering the 2016-17 season, Pastrnak was primed for a breakout campaign. In the season’s first game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pastrnak scored two goals and added two assists. It only went up from there.
Pastrnak finished last season playing 75 games and recorded 70 points. He added another four points in the 2017 playoffs, which ended for Boston with a Game 6 loss in the first round against the Ottawa Senators. He was due for a new contract, and eventually, Pastrnak and the Bruins agreed to a six-year deal, 40-million dollar deal.
Pastrnak’s new deal paid immediate dividends. Despite missing 74 games over his first three seasons, Pastrnak has not missed a game since, including suiting up for all 82 games in the regular season and also skating in 12 playoff games last season.
In his first year after inking his new deal, Pastrnak scored just one goal more but added nine more assists compared to the prior season. In the playoffs, Pastrnak was Boston’s biggest star. He collected 20 points in 12 games in two rounds against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Scoring four goals in Game 2 of the first round against Toronto, Pastrnak became the youngest player to achieve such an accomplishment since Wayne Gretzky.
So far this season, Pastrnak has 27 goals and 29 assists for 56 points in 49 games. Those are the numbers upon which was Pastrnak awarded with the All-Star Game participation. Although this is his very first time participating in the All-Star festivities, he probably deserved to be there in each of his previous two seasons as well.
David Pastrnak has 259 points in 303 NHL games in the NHL, a pretty respectable for a player who will celebrate his 23rd birthday next May. After tough 2015 and 2016 outings, when the Bruins missed the playoffs, they were looking for young talents like David Pastrnak to step up and be lethal for them for many years to come. Pastrnak has delivered and looks to lead the young Bruins as Boston gets younger and players like Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron continue to age.
