Boston Bruins: Is our top line the league’s biggest bargain?
By Filip Canda
The Boston Bruins have signed a few really bad contracts over the past seasons; one line is made up of arguably the three best deals they have.
Some of the deals the team signed in the past continue to haunt the Boston Bruins to this day. Then there are contracts which are easily the biggest bargains in the entire league. The trio of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand surely form one of the best forward lines in the NHL. If not, the best one out there.
When we take a simple look at the team’s production over the past season; the top Boston Bruins producer was Brad Marchand with 100 points. David Pastrnak was second on that list with 81 points; Patrice Bergeron was third with 79 points. All of them reached their new career highs.
During the playoffs, only Torey Krug disrupted the top threes’ domination in terms of scoring. Brad Marchand led the Bruins with 23 points, Pastrnak was second with 19 points, Bergeron had 17 points, Krug entered the top three with 18 points.
More from Bruins News
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
- The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci
If you are seeking an interesting read, you can check out this piece from The Athletic (subscription required) reviewing the ideal lineup consisted of bargain deals and smart contracts. No shock at all that the Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak trio made the top line on that list. It’s not the first or the last time the Boston Bruins top line gets such recognition.
Brad Marchand’s salary cap hit is $6,125,000 per season until 2025. David Pastrnak’s cap hit is $6,666,667 until 2023. Patrice Bergeron is the best-paid player on that line with the salary cap hit of $6,875,000 per year until 2022. Bergeron’s deal will expire soonest from all the three mentioned contracts, and even then, it will still endure for three more seasons.
Looking at the production compared to the contracts’ value, the Boston Bruins have the biggest bargain of a top line in the entire NHL. It will stay that way for at least three more seasons, which is also very important and encouraging for the Bruins as well.
The Boston Bruins had to save some dollars, creating such bargain deals such as those ones for Marchand or Pastrnak, in large part due to still having to pay something more than three million to Matt Beleskey and Dennis Seidenberg and six million to David Backes, though the latter is still with the team.
Looking within the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins will find out teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs are having to pay huge wages to top-notch skaters like Auston Matthews or John Tavares, while Mitch Marner awaits his big payday.
The Boston Bruins don’t have to worry about such deals for their top players. Some fans may argue that the Bruins gave the saved money away to a ‘already finished’ David Krejci.
Krejci was the only player not to miss a single game because of the injury in the past year and he posted 73 points in the regular season, with another 16 points in the playoffs. On the overall list, Krejci was the Bruins fourth-best point producer in the regular season and the playoffs combined.
It has been already very clear that the Patrice Bergeron’s contract is a steal, but the Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney managed to compliment such a bargain deal with another two low-cost contracts. For the Boston Bruins, it’s great that they are getting acknowledgement for that.
dark. Next. Do you move Pastrnak to play with Krejci?
The Bruins top line will continue to be used for such articles and lists of the NHL’s biggest bargains. More than that, they will be atop almost every time.