Pastrnak, B’s find peace
Winger signs for 6 years, $40M
Now, was that really so difficult?
After months of talks, and apparently lengthy stretches of silence, the Bruins and restricted free agent winger David Pastrnak yesterday arrived at a compromise that should have been attainable long ago: A six-year contract worth $40 million, or $6.67 million per year.
That represents for this season, if our math is correct, a tidy little raise of $5,741,670 over the $925,000 Pastrnak earned in 2016-17, the final year of his entry-level pact.
Pastrnak jumps into the upper-echelon of the NHL salary structure, as the seventh highest-paid right winger in the league. And he would become an unrestricted free agent after the 2022-23 season, two months after he turns 27, which means his next contract after this one could be far larger.
Yes, moms and dads, get your youngsters on skates as soon as possible.
The Bruins and Pastrnak avoided the sort of acrimonious turmoil that can surround a free agent holdout, causing distractions in the locker room and lasting rancor. Pastrnak’s teammates, who may well have had some inside information, weren’t surprised the deal got done.
In hindsight, the threat the young Czech might play in the KHL wasn’t real. Some of those clubs may have made offers, but that doesn’t mean Pastrnak had any interest, beyond, maybe, putting a little negotiat- ing pressure on the B’s.
“You never know with those situations, I guess,” said center Patrice Bergeron. “But I was kind of under the impression that it was going to get resolved at some point. You just didn’t know when. I think that’s the way that Pasta was feeling, as well.”
Pastrnak spent much of last season skating on a line with Bergeron. But B’s coach Bruce Cassidy said yesterday the plan for the start of camp is to play Pastrnak, who’ll arrive in Boston tonight and possibly be on the ice by tomorrow or Sunday, with No. 2 center David Krejci.
“That’s the plan,” said Cassidy. “They speak the same language on the ice. Both in the style they play and how they communicate. I think Krech likes having guys with speed to open up ice for him so he can draw opposition plays to him and dish pucks.
“David Pastrnak has become a really high-end shooter; and David Krejci has always excelled at getting pucks to those type of players. They like to score. They think offense. Guys like that like to play together.”
Cassidy said he envisions pairs of players in forming his lines, which means Bergeron-Brad Marchand as one pair, and Krejci-Pastrnak as another.
“(That) is the plan,” said the coach. “I don’t see why that would change.”
The ongoing story of this training camp will be identifying the two wingers to join those pairs. There are numerous candidates, including, but not limited to, veterans David Backes, Matt Beleskey and Frank Vatrano, and youngsters Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen.
“We need to see how some of these players mix in with the top-level skill,” said Cassidy. “We’ll do that in training camp. That’s what it’s for, to find chemistry.”
Just how the opening night roster looks Oct. 5 will impact the B’s salary cap status. As of now, the team has, according to www.capfriendly.com, $2,609,998 in remaining cap space, based on the 22-man roster the site projects.
“We have cap space,” said general manager Don Sweeney. “We have to allow our roster to play out. It may be impacted there, and the phones will start to ring as we go forward through camp and teams evaluate their situations. We’ll have some flexibility to look at things. We have (young) players who will have to look at the roster as an opportunity, and whether or not they can take someone’s job. They have to displace someone. We have a full roster of players who returned, and we were a playoff team. We want to be better. We want to be a deeper group. The talent pool has grown, and therefore the competition internally has grown.”
It had to be a relief for Sweeney to be talking about the big picture and not focusing on a Pastrnak holdout.
“I’ve always said we were going to find a deal,” said the GM. “(There) wasn’t a deadline; we didn’t look at it that way. We had a strong level of communication. I just think the work paid off for both sides to find a good landing spot. I know both sides are extremely happy to have it resolved and get the full complement in camp.”