Sweeney: B's have ‘aggressive mindset' in Pastrnak contract talks

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David Pastrnak's contract situation is one of the several questions the Boston Bruins must answer this offseason.

The star winger is set to make $6.7 million in 2022-23 on the final year of his six-year, $40 million contract. As of Wednesday, he is eligible to sign an extension to stay with the organization long-term.

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Bruins general manager Don Sweeney recently expressed his desire to make Pastrnak a "lifelong Bruin." However, so far not much progress has been made in contract discussions with the 26-year-old.

"Nothing that concrete," Sweeney said Wednesday. "We didn't exchange any numbers as I said the other day. Officially, we can now, so we'll go right to work on seeing where David's at.

"We're going to take an aggressive mindset and hopefully find a common ground and we'll see. There's no timeline on it."

Pastrnak has been Boston's best offensive player over the last few seasons, so there's no doubt it would pain B's fans to see him don a different sweater. But there's also an argument for trading him. The Bruins can't afford to let him walk for nothing after the 2022-23 season and their core of Patrice Bergeron (36, still an unrestricted free agent) and Brad Marchand (34) isn't getting any younger.

Numbers surely will be exchanged between Pastrnak and the Bruins in the coming days. Resolving the contract situation sooner rather than later would benefit both sides as they look to get some clarity heading into a 2022-23 season filled with question marks.

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