Boston Bruins: Will Zach Werenski set the price for Charlie McAvoy?
By Filip Canda
Werenski generates more power-play offense
Let’s say that would mean the Blue Jackets were to re-sign Werenski to a three-year contract worth $5.5 million per year. What would that mean for the Boston Bruins and Charlie McAvoy?
Such a deal would make sense for both parties. It’s not a long-term deal, but it’s not a short one-year deal either. It offers the team a little bit of salary cap relief, while it gives the player an option to have the arbitration rights in 2022 off-season, when he would still be a restricted free agent.
The Boston Bruins have approximately $8 million in the salary cap space. If they signed McAvoy in the range of $5 million per year, that would be a perfect short-term solution for their salary cap issues. The source adds that even though Werenski would like to sign a regular long-term deal worth at least $7 million per campaign, he prefers a shorter deal, at least for now.
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Why would Werenski have the upper hand right now?
He has played one full season more than the Boston Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy. While McAvoy has missed almost 50 games in his first two seasons, Werenski has only missed five contests. The health concern sure doesn’t surround Werenski, while the same cannot be said for McAvoy.
In terms of points, Werenski has shown far more of an offensive game than McAvoy. In his past two seasons, he has posted 81 points, while posting 47 points in his rookie year. McAvoy has totalled 60 points during the past two campaigns. However, at even-strength, McAvoy has 46 points and Werenski has 51 points during the past two seasons.
It’s rather clear than Werenski drives his offense from the power-play production. In the playoffs, McAvoy had eight points in 23 games, while Werenski had six points in 10 games. As mentioned before, Werenski might have posted more points in the past two years, but his point-per-game is 0.50, while McAvoy’s at 0.51. It’s still a very tiny margin.
During the past two seasons, Charlie McAvoy has averaged almost 19 minutes of the ice-time per game at the even-strength. Zach Werenski has averaged a little bit less ice-time per game at even-strength in the past two regular seasons.
Once again, in the past two seasons, McAvoy has averaged 54.91 as his Corsi For percentage and 54.66 as his expected Goals For percentage. Werenski has had 52.48 at CF% and 50.43 at xGF%; relatively similar given the different make-up of the Blue Jackets to the Boston Bruins.