The Boston Bruins had one of the worst powerplays in the NHL in 2024-25. They finished fourth-last in the league with a 15.2% success rate, which isn't good enough for a powerplay that features a player like David Pastrnak. Bruins reporter Conor Ryan raised an interesting question on social media on Tuesday night: Who will quarterback the first powerplay unit now that they are fully healthy, Hampus Lindholm or Charlie McAvoy?
Will be very curious to see how Sturm maps out Boston's power-play personnel, but there's a lot to like about Hampus Lindholm's impact on the top unit.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) September 10, 2025
From 2022-25, a power play unit featuring Pastrnak + McAvoy logged 524 minutes of power play TOI. Over that stretch, Boston…
The powerplay looked disjointed last season with McAvoy at the helm. He is known to force shots through traffic and not have the greatest vision for his shooters on the flank. While McAvoy likes the idea of running the top unit and the coaches seem to like him there, Lindholm brings a different element that obviously works with the forwards.
As the analytics presented by Ryan shows, 11.74 goals scored per 60 minutes when Lindholm and Pastrnak are on the ice is an impressive number. There were times last season on the powerplay where it felt like the first unit could stay out there for 60 minutes straight and not score a single goal. It got so bad at one point that Pastrnak shifted to the opposite flank and had Morgan Geekie in the one-timer spot.
The move might've gotten Geekie a $33 million contract, but it isn't sustainable for the success of the Bruins long-term. Marco Sturm has to figure out a way to put Pastrnak in the best position possible to improve one of the league's worst powerplays, and giving him a reliable quarterback at the top of the 1-3-1 is the easiest way to do it.
The Bruins' powerplay was at its best when Torey Krug was at the top. It even looked good when Matt Grzelcyk was given the opportunity when McAvoy was out or struggled more than usual. The obvious answer is that a left-handed distributor both up top and on the opposite flank offers the best opportunity to find an open Pastrnak, which is why it was so lethal with Brad Marchand and Krug.
It obviously doesn't help that there isn't a Marchand on the opposite flank or a Patrice Bergeron in the bumper. However, plugging Lindholm in instead of McAvoy would be the best option as Sturm aims to fix the problem.