Boston Bruins right winger David Pastrnak said Monday during Media Day that he's "confident" a new contract extension will be worked out. The Bruins themselves also have stressed for months, and again on Monday, that Pastrnak is an awesome player and someone they want on their roster for a long time.
Despite what both sides have said publicly, a deal still isn't done with the season opener a little more than 24 hours away. Could money be the issue?
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Well, according to 98.5 The Sports Hub's Ty Anderson, the Bruins have been willing to make a strong financial commitment to get Pastrnak signed.
"Before you kill the Bruin for their inability to get Pastrnak to sign the dotted line just yet, multiple sources have told 98.5 The Sports Hub that the Bruins have been willing to go extremely high with Pastrnak on his next deal," Anderson wrote Tuesday.
"One source even indicated that the Bruins have offered what would be the richest contract in team history, meaning an offer that topped the $9.5 million cap hit franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy landed in 2021. This doesn’t appear to be a case of the Bruins not wanting to pay that man his money."
It's encouraging that, per this report, the Bruins are willing to offer a massive amount of money to Pastrnak. It's also not that surprising, given the fact that over the last couple months both Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs and general manager Don Sweeney have used the word "aggressive" in describing the team's mindset on getting a deal done with Pastrnak.
One of the most impressive aspects of Sweeney's tenure as Bruins general manager has been re-signing important players to team-friendly contracts. He did it with Brad Marchand, Matt Grzelcyk, Taylor Hall and Pastrnak's current deal. Sweeney likely won't be able to pull that off again with Pastrnak, but that's not an indictment on his negotiating abilities.
Players who score goals at a top-tier level get paid a ton of money. Just look at the leading goal scorers over the last three seasons and their salary cap hits (via CapFriendly).
- Auston Matthews, TOR: 148 goals ($11.63 million)
- Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 129 goals ($8.5 million)
- Alex Ovechkin, WSH: 122 goals ($9.5 million)
- Connor McDavid, EDM: 111 goals ($12.5 million)
- Kyle Connor, WPG: 111 goals ($7.14 million)
- David Pastrnak, BOS: 108 goals ($6.67 million)
Here's the same list for all of the players who scored 40-plus goals last season:
- Auston Matthews, TOR: 60 goals ($11.63 million)
- Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 55 goals ($8.5 million)
- Chris Kreider, NYR: 52 goals ($6.5 million)
- Alex Ovechkin, WSH: 50 goals ($9.5 million)
- Kirill Kaprizov, MIN: 47 goals ($9 million)
- Kyle Connor, WPG: 47 goals ($7.14 million)
- Connor McDavid, EDM: 44 goals ($12.5 million)
- Matt Duchene, NSH: 43 goals ($8 million)
- Steven Stamkos, TB: 42 goals ($8.5 million)
- Matthew Tkachuk, FLA: 42 goals $9.5 million)
- Filip Forsberg, NSH: 42 goals ($8.5 million)
- Elias Lindholm, CGY: 42 goals ($4.5 million)
- Jason Robertson, DAL: 41 goals ($7.75 million)
- Alex DeBrincat, OTT: 41 goals ($6.4 million)
- Johnny Gaudreau, CBJ: 40 goals ($9.75 million)
- Jake Guentzel, PIT: 40 goals ($6 million)
- David Pastrnak, BOS: 40 goals ($6.67 million)
Pastrnak is an elite goal scorer and someone who fills seats at TD Garden, which is very important for a league like the NHL that is more dependent on gate revenue than other professional sports.
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The 26-year-old forward's next contract also will take up what's left of his prime, so you can bet his representatives are doing all they can to maximize his earnings in those years, especially with recent reports suggesting the salary cap ceiling could rise substantially in the next four or five years.
Both sides seem intent on working something out, which is a positive sign. But the longer it drags into the regular season, the more of a distraction this situation has the potential to become.