Who will be the Boston Bruins MVP next year?
If I asked one-hundred Boston Bruins fans who they think next seasons team MVP will be, I guarantee a lot of people would say Patrice Bergeron or Brad Marchand.
To me, however, it’s David Pastrnak’s time to step up. The lack of right-wing depth on the Bruins leads to David Pastrnak being the best at his position by a mile, adding to his importance to the team.
His versatility also adds to his value, giving head coach Bruce Cassidy several ways to put Pastrnak out on the ice, whether as a first liner or second liner. Pastrnak has to be good for the Bruins, or it could potentially hurt their depth scoring. Ultimately, Pastrnak is the glue that holds the teams’ offensive prowess together.
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Last season, Pastrnak recorded 33 goals and 48 assists for 81 points in 66 games played. If we were to prorate his per game stats over a full 82 game season at the pace he scored, Pastrnak could have hit the 100 point plateau.
It’s also important to mention that he had better transitional analytics than Bergeron last season. It’s no doubt Pastrnak is a dominant puck possession player, as he has only had a Corsi-For% under 55 once in his career (2015-16: 51.9 CF%).
Pastrnak also didn’t rely on much luck last season either. PDO is a stat that basically quantifies luck that a player had. Under a 100 PDO is bad luck, over 100 is good luck and a 100 PDO is average.
Pastrnak recorded a 100.7 PDO, and for comparison’s sake, Bergeron had a 101.9 PDO. What this means is that Pastrnak is more likely to have another season like the one he had last year than Bergeron will, as Bergeron required more luck to reach his point production.
That being said, Pastrnak has improved with every passing season, and if he continues his rise in production heading into next season, he can easily become the leading scorer on the Bruins roster.