Bruins’ contract talks with Pastrnak ongoing as NHL season opener nears originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Boston Bruins begin their 2022-23 NHL season Wednesday night in Washington, and unless something changes in the next 48 hours, David Pastrnak will enter the new campaign without a contract extension.
There’s no hard deadline, though. All parties involved will continue to try and work out a deal after the first puck drops.
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“Both sides have been open about continuing our talks, so I don’t think things change at all from that standpoint, unless David takes a new position,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Monday at Media Day.
“But up until this standpoint, we’ve been communicating regularly and when he feels comfortable, hopefully we finalize a deal. There’s no timeline on that. We’re just going to continue to communicate, almost every day to tell you the honest truth, and see if we can find a finish line.”
Pastrnak said he is “comfortable” with contract talks carrying into the season.
“I know they’re talking every day,” he said. “They’re trying to get something done. It’s good that they are in touch. Confident it will get done.”
Working out an extension with Pastrnak — who is signed through 2022-23 with a $6.67 million salary cap hit — is extremely important to the franchise’s ability to be competitive in the short and long term.
It’s very difficult to find players of his caliber. Only five players in the league have scored more goals than Pastrnak over the previous three years. He led the team with 40 goals in 72 games last season, and the last Bruins player to hit the 40-goal mark before Pastrnak was Glen Murray in 2002-03.
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The Bruins also have very few top-tier forward prospects in the system. The NHL roster also is lacking in premium young talent. Replacing a superstar forward like Pastrnak could take several years.
So it wasn’t surprising to hear Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs describe ownership’s mindset in trying to re-sign Pastrnak as “aggressive”.
“David is a special player,” Jacobs said at Media Day. “We try not to comment on ongoing negotiations, but David is obviously a special player. Ownership is aware that we need to be aggressive in trying to re-up David to a new contract. To that end, (Sweeney) and Cam (Neely) have been working on that.”
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The Bruins have made it clear over the last couple months that a full rebuild is not imminent. They plan to be a competitive team for the foreseeable future, and that message has been conveyed to Pastrnak.
“We’re not stripping it down here,” Neely said Monday. “We’re gonna build on it.”
A huge part of building that next foundation of Bruins success is keeping Pastrnak around long term.
