David Pastrňák with the world champions' trophy on Old Town Square, May 2024
David Pastrňák with the world champions' trophy on Old Town Square, May 2024Photo: David Sedlecký, 2024 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

David Pastrňák (born 25 May 1996 in Havířov) is a Czech ice hockey forward. He has played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins since 2014 and on 27 September 2026 became the club's 28th captain.[1][2][5] In 2024 in Prague he scored the winning goal in the World Championship final.[4]*

NHL career

He first played for Havířov's senior team at the age of fifteen.[1] Boston selected him 25th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft.[2] In September 2017 he signed a six-year contract worth 40 million dollars, and in March 2023 an eight-year contract worth 90 million dollars running until the end of the 2030/31 season.[2] In the 2019/20 season he scored 48 goals and shared the Maurice Richard Trophy for the regular season's top goal scorer with Alexander Ovechkin.[3][5] He was the second Czech to win the trophy after Milan Hejduk.[2] In 2019 he played in the Stanley Cup Final with Boston.[5]

In the 2022/23 season he scored 61 goals, becoming the second Bruins player after Phil Esposito to score at least 60 goals in a season. With 113 points he was a Hart Trophy finalist.[5] In the 2025/26 season he recorded 100 points (29 goals and 71 assists) in 77 games, his fourth consecutive season with at least one hundred points.[5] Before the 2026/27 season, according to the club, he had played 833 NHL games with 420 goals and 513 assists, all for Boston.[5] He ranks fifth in goals and sixth in points in club history. He has played in four NHL All-Star Games and was named MVP of the 2020 game.[5]

David Pastrňák in a Boston Bruins jersey, 2016
David Pastrňák in a Boston Bruins jersey, 2016Photo: Lisa Gansky, 2016 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

National team

He has played for Czechia at six World Championships (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2025).[5] In 2022 in Tampere he won bronze and was the tournament's top goal scorer with seven goals.[2][5] At the 2024 home championship he decided the final in Prague against Switzerland, which Czechia won 2–0. He scored the winning goal in the 50th minute, bringing the team its first world title in fourteen years.[4] At the 2025 World Championship he was the top points scorer with 15 points and was named the tournament's best forward.[5]

Sources

  1. Deník.cz — 22 January 2024
  2. ČTK (České noviny) — 2 March 2023
  3. Aktuálně.cz — 15 May 2021
  4. Deník.cz — 26 May 2024
  5. Boston Bruins (NHL) — 27 September 2026