Marco Sturm got the good news on Tuesday ahead of puck drop in St. Louis.

After missing five straight games due to injury, David Pastrnak was cleared to return to the ice.

Then came the tough decisions for Boston’s head coach when it came to carving out a spot for his franchise winger.

The logical choice for Sturm would be to slot Pastrnak back into his usual perch atop Boston’s top line next to Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm.

But, the emergence of several other forwards across Boston’s depth presented an interesting conundrum for Sturm as far as how best to incorporate a 60-goal scorer like Pastrnak back into the lineup.

Despite Pastrnak’s standing as a top-line talent, a reworked first line of Geekie, Lindholm, and Alex Steeves was carving up defenses during his five-game absence.

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