Sam Bennett and Bo Horvat headlined the RFAs who signed this week, therefore avoiding any late arrivals to training camp next week or a delayed start to the regular season. But there remains one huge scorer who still hasn’t re-upped with his team.
David Pastrnak, he of 70 points and a top 10 goal scorer last season, remains a RFA. The second-highest scorer on the Bruins in 2016-17, Pastrnak trailed just Brad Marchand, who makes $6.125 million against the cap. The Bruins would like to keep Pastrnak’s deal under Marchand’s, which eats up only UFA years. If Pastrnak did sign a long-term deal, it wouldn’t start eating into his UFA years until the fifth season.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Bruins GM Don Sweeney didn’t make it seem like a deal was imminent.
“Status quo there,” he said. “[Pastrnak’s agent] J.P. [Barry] and I continue to talk and will continue to talk and find a deal at some point in time. But there’s no timetable on it and nothing really to expand on other than the nature of the talks have been ongoing.”
The Bruins open camp next week on Sept. 14 and historically, when a player misses pre-season it has a negative impact on his regular-season performance. And although Pastrnak put up gaudy totals last season, he hovered in the 20s in both of the two seasons before.
Reports from earlier this summer indicated Pastrnak’s camp wanted to wait and see what Leon Driasaitl signed for before moving on their own deal. But Draisaitl is now making $8.5 million against the cap and at that kind of money, Pastrnak would be Boston’s highest-paid player. That’s probably too much to ask.
On Friday, Vancouver’s Bo Horvat inked a six-year extension that pays him $5.5 million per season, which could further help set the market for Pastrnak. Horvat put up 52 points last season (17 fewer than Pastrnak) but has played three consecutive years with increased production and a clearer line of development.
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