Almost all of the defensemen in this year’s group of restricted free agency have inked new deals; Charlie McAvoy knows his market value now, as do the Boston Bruins.
With Zach Werenski signing new terms with the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this week and now Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers also inking a deal, Charlie McAvoy pretty much finds himself backed into the corner by the Boston Bruins.
They now know what the market dictates his value to be, there’s no more options to find comparative value if you’re Charlie McAvoy’s agent. Looking at the deals too, you almost wouldn’t mind if the Boston Bruins offered him any of them; they all would provide value (and slight savings) for the team.
Even Winnipeg Jets defenseman, Josh Morrisey has inked a new deal, almost a full season ahead of his current bridge deal expiring.
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If Charlie McAvoy didn’t have an idea of how much the Boston bruins might be willing to stump up before now, it’s all but certain he can now guarantee any offer will remain firmly in the range of a $6-7 million AAV.
You’d have to also assume this will finally shut down any prolonged contract talks with Brandon Carlo; the thinking being that he is solely delayed by the Boston Bruins not having a guaranteed cost on his fellow restricted free agent team mate.
It was reported initially that Charlie McAvoy was seeking a deal with the Boston Bruins similar to the $7.5 million seven-year one Aaron Ekblad signed with the Florida Panthers. Such a deal would have locked him in at a relatively high cap hit but for significant term.
Right now, you’d have to believe that we’re more likely looking in the realms over maybe five years at a hit of around $6.8 million. It’s still an underpay if he proves himself able to stay healthy over those five years and continues to blossom into the number one defenseman we think he can be.
The big challenge with that cap hit is that Ivan Provorov is a lesser points producer and isn’t as impressive as the Bruins youngster in other key defensive metrics. He has just secured himself $6.75 million over 6 years and that has really set quite a high bar.
If you’re Charlie McAvoy, do you miss more of training camp and potentially the start of the season for the sake of a few hundred thousand dollars?
Likewise, if you’re the Boston Bruins; do you now straight up offer the same deal as Provorov and hope that your guy finds it agreeable?
Hopefully this is all put to bed soon, so we can focus on the top priority for this season; another 100-point regular season and another trip to the Stanley Cup Final, with a different final outcome this time around!