Bruins president: We want Pastrnak in Boston if contract makes sense

Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak makes an amazing diving and swiping play to set up teammate Brad Marchand for a goal.

Boston Bruins team president Cam Neely says the team wants to re-sign restricted free agent David Pastrnak but only if the contract makes sense.

“To be honest with you, we haven’t really gotten a response on what they’re looking for,” Neely said at the Bruins’ Fanfest in Providence, R.I., according to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. “But I feel confident we can get something done. I think David has expressed that he loves it here and wants to play here. We want him here for as long as it makes sense for us.”

Pastrnak, 21, broke out in a big way last season, his third in the league. He set career-highs in goals (34), points (70) and games played (75) on a Bruins team that reached the playoffs. The 25th overall pick in 2014 was second to only Brad Marchand in goals and points on the team.

After putting up those numbers a year ago Pastrnak has been rumoured to be seeking a contract similar to the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year, $68 million deal on Aug. 16.

But Neely says he doesn’t believe one contract, like Draisaitl’s, can alone shift the market.

“I know everyone’s talking about the Draisaitl contract, and rightfully so they were waiting to see what was going to happen there. But that’s one player,” Neely said. “If it looks like an abundance of players and the market has shifted, then you should look at it, but if it’s one player that you’re hanging your hat on then I don’t know if that’s a market shift.

“I don’t know if the market has really shifted as much as people think.”

[relatedlinks]

Neely says that the Bruins tabled an offer to Pastrnak’s camp and are waiting to hear back. The Bruins currently have just over $10 million in cap space according to Cap Friendly.com.

Conroy reached out to Pastrnak’s agent J.P. Berry after Neely’s comments on Thursday.

“(The Bruins) are aware that the offers to date aren’t where we feel David fits in this marketplace,” Berry wrote to Conroy in an email. “We plan to discuss an eight-year maximum term to see if we can find more common ground.”

Neely says there hasn’t been much negotiating between the two sides recently but that he’s open to it whenever Pastrnak’s side is.

“There hasn’t been any dialogue,” he said. “Early on there was and then an offer was put out there and there hasn’t really been much back and forth for us to say where we’re going to head and what direction we’re going in.

“Until we really see what they’re thinking and what they’re looking for, then we can start the dialogue.”

One person who is looking forward to Pastrnak re-signing with the team is Patrice Bergeron.

“I’m not necessarily worried about the situation going too long,” Bergeron said, according to CSNE.com. “I certainly wish that it could be done soon, but that being said I can’t really take a position on that.

“It’s business at the end of the day.”

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.