Boston Bruins: What’s a fair price for Brandon Carlo now?

With Charlie McAvoy inking his new deal with the Boston Bruins, all eyes are now on Brandon Carlo and how much he signs for.

The Boston Bruins managed to seal the Charlie McAvoy contract without him missing much more than a few days of camp and zero pre-season games; no doubt, they were hoping for the same with Brandon Carlo. Right now though, it’s all but certain he’s missing at least one pre-season fixture.

It’s safe to presume that Brandon Carlo’s agent has spent the summer waiting for the McAvoy deal to land. It not only gives him a comparable to work with the Boston Bruins on, but it also gives a much clearer pictures of the team’s salary cap situation and what numbers are viable.

We looked at comparable players around the league previously and it’s safe to say he factors perfectly into the exact range the Boston Bruins would be hoping for; in all likelihood, a deal worth around $3 million but almost definitely as a bridge contract, as opposed to something long-term.

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If they can string signing Brandon Carlo to a longer term out another two years, they have the full $6 million that they currently pay David Backes to play with, assuming of course he isn’t moved prior, to ensure Jake Debrusk and potentially Torey Krug (if they renew) have money available for new contracts.

You would have to imagine that Brandon Carlo’s team are now seeking, given there’s only around $3 million per year available to him, some sort of clever deal paying him a lesser base salary for say two years but with an escalated base in the third.

Let’s say maybe a $2.5 million per year base salary across two years with a third and final year of term escalating it to $4 million.

This would be an incredibly smart deal for both parties; for the Boston Bruins it means they lock him up for 3 years at a cost of $3 million per season; that seems like good value for money when you consider the cap hits of guys like John Moore and Kevan Miller.

Equally, for Brandon Carlo, it ensures his qualifying offer when he reaches the end of his contract is set at something just above $4 million. To my thinking, it’d be an absolutely fair price, if even a little bit of an overpay when you consider the value the Boston Bruins managed to get from the eventual Charlie McAvoy contract.

Thankfully, we’re almost ready to drop the puck on the first pre-season game and that means they’ll soon be hockey to distract us from these behind-the-scenes concerns. Bring on hockey an hopefully they’ll be a Brandon Carlo announcement in the coming days.