Finding middle ground: A long-term contract
You might think that a long-term contract is the ideal scenario for the Boston Bruins, especially when it comes to Charlie McAvoy. However, I’d argue that this is purely the middle-ground.
With a long-term deal comes certain salary expectations. Compared to a shorter-term deal, the player has to hedge his bets on how much the salary cap may increase by and thus whether a deal paying let’s say 10% of the team cap at it’s commencement is only giving you 5% in seven years time.
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Couple that with the fact we have seen Charlie McAvoy has a slight propensity towards health problems and thus hasn’t yet played a full regular season and you might question whether a long-term deal is truly the smartest option for the Boston Bruins.
On the flip side, he has certainly shown himself to be a bonafide top-pairing defenseman in the NHL and at only 21 years-old, the New York native can certainly still improve further.
The huge figures out of restricted free agency are generally reserved for centers, though offensively-gifted defensemen have managed to find them in the past. Issue for Charlie McAvoy is his career production at all levels has always been roughly a point every second game, not the sort of average you can bump your salary up by advertising.
The obvious comparable contract that is routinely spoken about is the deal Aaron Ekblad signed with the Florida Panthers; $7.5 million for an eight-year term. Only concern with that is that the Boston Bruins then have to make moves to shoe-horn a new deal for Brandon Carlo under the salary cap.
It’s all one big juggling act, especially if the cap hit is high, as you expect with a longer term deal.