Owning the next pick, Draisaitl and McDavid didn’t hesitate at the opportunity to add another player they both have a strong amount of respect for in Boston’s David Pastrnak, who could complete one of the most high-octane lines we’ve ever seen at an NHL All-Star game alongside the Dynamic Duo.
“I’m excited to see how it’s going to be,” Pastrnak said. “They are both unbelievable players, two of the best in the world. I’m excited and hopefully, we can score some goals on Saturday and get the win.”
Pastrnak was selected 22 picks after Draisaitl in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft, and the Czech forward is also second behind the German for overall points from the draft class with 334 goals and 689 points in 641 NHL games – including five more career goals.
The 27-year-old Bruin is third in NHL scoring this season with 33 goals and 27 points in 49 games.
“With ‘Pasta,’ we kind of grew up together, got drafted in the same year and been through the whole thing together,” Draisaitl said. “So I’m excited to spend some time with him, I got to know him from spending some time in Prague.”
For all of his All-Star Game experience, McDavid believes that getting the chance to line up alongside NHL talent like Pastrnak, whom he’s never been teammates with, is still one of the best parts of the whole event and certainly factored into his decision to take the elite scorer with his second pick.
“It’s exciting,” McDavid said. “I’ve come to the All-Star Game, this is my seventh time, and never gotten a chance to play with a guy like Pastrnak. That’s exciting to me. It’s always fun to get to play with new guys when you’re coming to an event like this where it’s the best against the best. It’s fun.”