David Pastrnak already has the most hat tricks in the NHL regular season of any Czech hockey player. How is he doing in terms of NHL history?

David Pastrnak scored his 16th hat trick in the regular season in the win over the Colorado Avalanche and became the best Czech hockey player in this regard. He surpassed the legendary Jaromir Jagr, who did it 15 times.

David Pastrnak scored 16 hat-tricks in less than 6 years

He waited quite a long time for a hat trick this season. He didn’t get it until the second half of the regular season. It was on 18 January, during Boston’s home win over a strong Colorado team, that he broke away from Jaromir Jagr in the Czech historical tables, who managed to accumulate 15 of them in the regular season during his impressive NHL career.

The third most successful Czech hockey player is the late Miroslav Fryčer, who recorded nine hat-tricks. Next is the New Jersey Devils icon Patrik Elias, who had eight hat tricks.

He was followed by Radim Vrbata and Petr Nedved. They have accomplished this feat a total of seven times in the famous NHL. Moreover, in an organization like the Boston Bruins, David Pastrnak is second only to the legendary Phil Esposito in the number of hat tricks. He managed to complete a hat trick 26 times.

The Czech sniper scored his first hat trick on 12 March 2018 in a 4:6 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. In the same year, he scored two more hat tricks. In 2019, he scored three hat-tricks again. On 14 October, he even managed to score four times in a 4:2 home win over Anaheim. From January 9, 2020 to January 18, 2024, he managed to accumulate 10 more hat-tricks.

Where does Pastrnak stand among active players so far?

There is only one better player than the Czech goal scorer among the active hockey players who are still walking the ice in the NHL. Of course, he is the second best scorer of the regular season. It is Alexander Ovechkin, who has already managed to score 30 hat-tricks.

However, he needed 20 seasons to reach that milestone and this season he hasn’t added any. Pastrnak has needed 10 seasons to get 16 NHL hat-tricks so far. So it’s even realistic that he could surpass the Russian canon.

The Czech scorer is followed by Pittsburgh Penguins icons Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They managed to score a hat trick 13 times and needed many more seasons to do it than the Czech forward.

Behind this duo is Tampa Bay icon Steven Stamkos, who managed to score 12, as well as Connor McDavid, who is already clawing his way up the ranks and could be a serious competitor among active players for Pastrnak in the future.

Only three players have managed at least 10 hat-tricks among active players so far. Namely John Tavares, who has had 11 and Auston Matthews, the top scorer this season, who has already had 3 hat-tricks this season alone, has also had 11. The last of the bunch is Patrik Laine, who has scored 10 times.

The absolute hat trick king is Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s top scorer, has managed to score the most hat tricks in his career. He managed to score at least three goals in a game in the NHL on 50 occasions! Followed by ”Penguin in body and soul” Mario Lemieux. He scored a hat trick 40 times.

Behind these two is New York Islanders sharpshooter Mike Bossy. He’s scored a hat trick 39 times. Followed by Brett Hull and Phil Esposito. They did it 33 and 32 times respectively. And already in sixth place on the historical charts is the best active player Alexander Ovechkin with 30 hat tricks.

Pastrnak, looking at the history, ranks 32nd in NHL history with 16 hat tricks, along with legend Stan Mikita. He is only one hat trick away from equaling Peter Fortune or Guy Lafleur, for example. In order for Pastrnak to reach the Top 10 in the NHL in this statistic, he needs at least nine more hat tricks.

Source: NHL, X