BOSTON — David Pastrnak is the top winger in the NHL, according to the hosts of the Locked on NHL podcast network.
The Boston Bruins superstar came in ahead of Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers), Jason Robertson (Dallas Stars), Mitch Marner (Toronto Maple Leafs), and Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) in the voting.
The ranking is completely justified, seeing as Pastrnak tied for third in the NHL in total points last season, behind only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers.
His 113 points were level with Kucherov, but Pastrnak scored 61 compared to 30 for the Lightning forward.
The true test for Pastrnak, though, will come in 2023-24. He'll be tasked with maintaining an elite level of play on a salary cap hit of $11.25-million in the Bruins' first season without both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci in the lineup.
Long gone are the days when Pastrnak was seen as a talented young passenger on a line with Bergeron and Brad Marchand (who ranked 10th on the top wingers list).
Pastrnak played most of last season with Krejci and Pavel Zacha, and has become a real driver offensively.
Still, as the Bruins' highest plaid player and with some holes at center, he'll need to keep the foot on the gas to maintain that ranking in 2023-24.
A real argument could be made for Matthew Tkachuk as well. He was incredibly valuable to the Panthers during their run to the Stanley Cup Final, one that included beating Pastrnak and the Bruins. He was also a Hart Trophy finalist alongside Pastrnak as both lost out to McDavid.
Here's the complete list of top wingers:
- David Pastrnak
- Matthew Tkachuk
- Jason Robertson
- Mitch Marner
- Nikita Kucherov
- Alex Ovechkin
- Kirill Kaprizov
- Mikko Rantanen
- Artemi Panarin
- Brad Marchand
- William Nylander
- Brady Tkachuk
- Kyle Connor
- Johnny Gaudreau
- Jesper Bratt
- Clayton Keller
- Kevin Fiala
- Alex Tuch
- Claude Giroux
- Andrei Kuzmenko