Heading into the 2024-25 campaign, Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak is just 52 goals shy of becoming the sixth player in franchise history to reach 400 goals. He ranks seventh behind all-time leading scorer Ray Bourque, who finished his Hall of Fame career with 395 lamplighters, which ranks first amongst defensemen to ever play in Boston.
Related: Bruins’ Marchand on Cusp of Historic 1,000-Point Milestone
Interestingly, Pastrnak has only surpassed 50 goals in a season once, when he netted a career-high 61 during the 2022-23 campaign, becoming only the second Bruins player to register more than 60 in a single season. He achieved that milestone thanks to playing alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, while the club would go on to set NHL records for wins and points.
Despite Bergeron retiring in the summer of 2023, Pastrnak still had another 100-point campaign, finishing with 110 points and 47 goals, the third-highest total of his career thus far. After spending time with various centers like Charlie Coyle and fellow Czech Pavel Zacha, the Bruins acquired Elias Lindholm, giving Pastrnak an elite passer to anchor the top line.
As mentioned, the top Boston goal scorer has only tallied more than 50 goals once, so heading into the new season with a chance at 400, will he and his linemates find another level to their game to get Pastrnak over the 50-goal hump one more time to help him reach the next milestone on his pursuit of the club’s all-time goal record of 545 held by Hall of Famer Johnny Bucyk?
Lindholm Is a Pass First Player
Luckily for Pastrnak, his new center, Lindholm, is a pass-first, shoot-second guy. In 11 seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks, the 29-year-old Swedish forward has compiled 339 assists in 818 games. His best campaigns came with the Flames, when he collected 40 and 42 assists in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
Lindholm’s career assists-per-game rate is 0.41, higher than Coyle’s (0.32) and Zacha’s (0.33). This means Pastrnak will have a linemate who will, more often than not, search for the sniper and feed him the puck at every opportunity. Perspectively, Lindholm’s ability to rack up assists rivals Bergeron’s, who finished his Hall of Fame-worthy career with a 0.47 rate.
On top of contributing offensively, Lindholm was brought in as the team’s top face-off player, as he finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 56.4 success rate; the fourth consecutive season, he won more than half of the draws he took. Winning face-offs allows the Bruins to gain possession of the puck and set up plays, especially on the man advantage, where Pastrnak usually sets up his office in the far circle for his patented one-timers.
400 Goals Is Within Reach if Everything Falls Into Place
Pastrnak has a good chance of reaching 400 goals in 2024-25 as long as he finds chemistry with Lindholm and his longtime linemate, Marchand, continues to produce at the rate that makes him one of the best statistical players in team history. As always, it’s a long season, and there will be peaks and valleys, which means Pastrnak will skate plenty with Coyle and Zacha, depending on who has a hot hand.
Regarding his place in Bruins history, Pastrnak could become the second-fastest skater to reach 400 goals, following Phil Esposito (542 games) and ahead of the names he is chasing: Middleton (861), Marchand (1,026), Bucyk (1,062), and Bergeron (1,216).
If the 28-year-old can light the lamp for the 400th time in 2024-25, he’ll inch closer to the club record of 545 goals Bucyk has held since 1978. No other player in the 101-year history of the Bruins has ever scored 500 goals, meaning at his current pace, Pastrnak would become the second in no less than three seasons. Considering he’s got seven seasons left on his current contract, at 0.51 goals-per-game, he’s less than five years away from scoring his 555th goal, making him Boston’s all-time leading goal scorer.
The 2024-25 season is shaping up to be pretty special in Boston. Besides Pastrnak’s pursuit of 400 goals, captain Marchand is on the verge of collecting 1,000 points. These two careers have been inseparable, and the only thing missing from cementing their place among the team’s all-time best duos is a Stanley Cup title. Wouldn’t it be something if the pair clinched their milestones, drove the Bruins to the Final, and won a title together?
