A few weeks ago, Charlie McAvoy said he wasn’t focused on his next contract and was instead just focused on getting ready for the season.
That hasn’t stopped the Bruins’ front office and McAvoy’s agent from focusing on it, though. Meeting with the media via Zoom on Wednesday, Bruins president Cam Neely dropped some news, saying that general manager Don Sweeney and assistant GM Evan Gold have been talking to McAvoy’s camp recently and that a new deal could be close.
“We’re gonna hopefully get Charlie McAvoy done here shortly,” Neely sad. “Don and Evan have been working with Charlie’s camp the last couple days. My hopes are we’ll see something here in short order, but you never know until it’s signed on the dotted line.”
McAvoy is entering the final season of a three-year deal that has an average annual value of $4.9 million, but a base salary of $7.3 million this season. He would be a restricted free agent next offseason if there’s no extension before then.
The market for top defensemen -- which the 23-year-old McAvoy certainly is -- was reset this offseason by a number of big-name, big-money deals that all came in roughly around the same numbers. To recap, these deals were all signed just this summer:
-Seth Jones, Blackhawks: 8 years, $9.5 million average annual value
-Darnell Nurse, Oilers: 8 years, $9.25 million AAV
-Miro Heiskanen, Stars: 8 years, $8.45 million AAV
-Dougie Hamilton, Devils: 7 year, $9 million AAV
-Zach Werenski, Blue Jackets: 6 years, $9.58 million AAV
-Cale Makar, Avalanche: 6 years, $9 million AAV
Given that McAvoy is arguably better than everyone on that list with the possible exception of Makar, the expectation would be that McAvoy’s annual value starts at $9 million and could even go up from there. He could sign for up to eight years.
Several of the Bruins’ top players have signed deals at below market value in the past, most notably the entire top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. Anything under $9 million per year would certainly qualify as a discount for McAvoy given the current market.
Neely addressed that market and those kinds of prices, saying that the Bruins try to be as fair as possible in negotiations and aren’t just looking to “win” a deal.
“Well for us, the marketplace at times gets set during the free agent period, which could be a little over-inflated, as we’ve all seen in free agency. That’s just the nature of the business,” Neely said. “I think in the past, we’ve been very fair and honest with our players when we negotiate with them. It’s not about trying to win anything. It’s about trying to land in the right spot where both sides are very happy, and that’s what we hope to do with Charlie.”
A long-term extension would set McAvoy up to be one of the cornerstones of the Bruins’ post-Patrice Bergeron years, and Neely said there has been no indication that McAvoy wouldn’t want to be in Boston long-term.
“I haven’t heard any indication that Charlie wouldn’t want to play here for his whole career,” Neely said. “That’s what we’re looking towards, and hopefully we can get something done that gives him an opportunity to do just that. We’ll see where it goes. But I think Charlie’s embraced Boston. He went to college here. I think he likes the city, loves the sports environment, loves our fanbase, playing in front of a full house every night.”
Related
