HENDERSON, Nev. — David Pastrnak stood in the desert sunshine and contemplated the salaries his superstar peers are earning in other sports and acknowledged a good-natured degree of dissatisfaction.
“The sport differential is crazy. That kind of pisses me off too,” Pastrnak said in the Lifeguard Arena parking lot on Saturday, followed by several hearty laughs. “But you know what? At the same time, I’m blessed I can play hockey. But the sport differential is crazy, yeah.”
Aaron Judge (30) signed a nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees. In 2023-24, the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (27) will begin a five-year, $270 million deal. You could make the case that the 26-year-old Pastrnak, currently No. 6 in league scoring with 38 points, is just as good at hockey as Judge and Jokic are at baseball and basketball.
As for those sports themselves, consider Pastrnak a lost cause.
“I cannot play basketball or baseball,” said Pastrnak. “I pretty much can play any sport. I’m very athletic besides sports where I have to throw balls. Not very good with that. No.”
The NHL’s salary structure will discourage Pastrnak from reaching the skies of his peers in other sports. It is not a stretch, though, to think that Pastrnak deserves more than Nathan MacKinnon’s NHL-leading $12.6 million average annual value.
As of Sunday, Pastrnak was averaging 4.23 points per 60 minutes of all-situations ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick. This placed him fifth in the league among players with 500 or more minutes. MacKinnon, who is a year older, is averaging 4.05 P/60, eighth-most in the NHL.
“Oh no, that doesn’t matter to me,” said Pastrnak of setting a new ceiling upon the expiration of his six-year, $40 million contract. “No.”
All-around threat
In 2019-20, Pastrnak recorded a career-high 4.29 P/60. He scored 48 goals in 70 games. If not for the NHL’s COVID-19 shutdown, the right wing would have smashed through the 50-goal threshold for the first time in his career.
Three years later, Pastrnak is a more complete player, worthy of A+ recognition.
No grade inflation here: High marks are the standard with the 19-3-0 Bruins. https://t.co/gaBhAxDRN5
— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) December 2, 2022
He is averaging 19:59 of ice time per game, better than the 18:58 per appearance he logged in 2019-20. Pastrnak is letting 15.13 shots fly per 60, more than the 12.61 shots per 60 he averaged three years ago. He is an even more belligerent player, with 3.55 hits per 60 compared to 2.82 in 2019-20.
“He could be a power forward if he wanted to,” coach Jim Montgomery cracked. “But he’s going to get paid more to be a goal scorer.”
Part of Pastrnak’s all-around robustness is a function of a proper offseason of training and mental preparation. It was the first time in three years he built such a foundation.
Two offseasons ago, Pastrnak was recovering from hip surgery. Last summer, he was reeling from the death of his son Viggo in June.
Twenty-seven games into the 2022-23 season, Pastrnak can notice the difference.
“One hundred percent you can feel it,” Pastrnak said. “Because first of all, it’s not always you can have all summer to work on your game. I think it’s also a little bit in your head. You know you are healthy. But you also know you put in the work. It definitely helped me more mentally than physically.”
Last year, after 27 games, Pastrnak had scored eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points. That he was 17 points off this season’s pace could have been the fact that he was still deep in grief. A year later, time has helped ease some of Pastrnak’s pain.
“I feel a little better,” said Pastrnak, pausing for several moments to catch his breath. “It’s obviously something you will never feel good about, right? Hockey brings happiness. I love playing hockey. That’s why I started as a kid. Hockey’s been a huge help for sure.”
Pastrnak is also finding more confidence in Montgomery’s system. For the six previous seasons, Pastrnak aligned his quick-trigger game to ex-coach Bruce Cassidy’s high-volume preference. That worked well for both the player and the coach.
What Pastrnak did not know was how much more he could create by following Montgomery’s principle of practicing offensive-zone patience. He always had the skill, smarts and strength to do so. Now, Pastrnak is becoming even more dangerous of a playmaker.
“I love scoring goals,” said Pastrnak. “But as much as I do that, I also like to set them up. I can definitely feel a difference compared to the last couple of years. In the O-zone, I try to hang on to the puck way more than I used to. I usually would try and make a play right away. Now, with the experience and getting a little older, I definitely want more possession in the O-zone before trying to force things to create opportunities. I think that possession is very important in the O-zone because usually when you wear teams down a little bit in the O-zone, that’s when they break and the holes open up to make plays.”
All of this makes Pastrnak practically impossible to slow down. He is a complete offensive weapon.
“He’s just uber-talented,” said Montgomery. “He finds different ways to score every night. He creates scoring chances all the time five-on-five and five-on-four. You know they’re sitting on him five-on-four. So you see him go up top. Sometimes you see him go back post. He’s hard to check.”
Pastrnak may even have more room to grow.
Getting better
It is not accurate to classify Pastrnak as simply a skilled wizard. The right wing thinks the game as well as anyone. Against the Coyotes on Friday, Pastrnak’s instant step-out opened up a passing lane for Charlie McAvoy. It also created a shooting angle for Pastrnak to one-time screamer past Karel Vejmelka.
“Because he has better hockey sense than anyone else,” Montgomery said of Pastrnak’s unstoppability on the power play. “His vision. He knows where he wants to go. He sees an opening before a defensive player sees where he’s going. He has a little bit of a half-second advantage to hit that hole.”
Experience should only enhance Pastrnak’s processing power. So as he masters more situational play, the right wing could become even better.
“I don’t know,” said Montgomery when asked if he foresaw growth in Pastrnak’s future. “I’ve worked with him here for a little over three months. For me, I’m blown away by the immense talent he has in every capacity of the game. He can do it physically. He can do it skill-wise. He can outthink you. We’re just lucky we have him.”
The question, then, becomes how much Pastrnak will make on his next deal. MacKinnon and Connor McDavid ($12.5 million AAV) will be 1-2 starting next year. The Bruins could argue that as centers, MacKinnon and McDavid deserve more than Pastrnak.
The story changes, though, with Artemi Panarin. The left wing’s $11,642,857 AAV is No. 3 in the league.
The Rangers had to pay a free agent premium to sign Panarin in 2019. But that was more than three years ago. The cap is projected to rise during the span of Pastrnak’s next contract.
As for the deal, Pastrnak continues to have the advantage in negotiating power. General manager Don Sweeney cannot afford to let the right wing walk for nothing. The Cup-hunting Bruins would sabotage any chance of getting Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci their second rings if they traded Pastrnak. At Pastrnak’s current pace, an eight-year, $88 million deal may be too low.
The Bruins, then, have only one option. To that end, Sweeney and JP Barry, Pastrnak’s agent, continue to negotiate.
“I still have this season left, right?” Pastrnak said. “There’s nothing to be rushed over. I know my agent’s talking to Sweens every other day. For me, it’s just hockey. I’m focusing on helping the team win and getting better.”
(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)
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