Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy is just six playoff games into what will assuredly be a lengthy NHL career but his presence is already making an impact off the ice. Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe suggests that part of the concern about meeting winger David Pastrnak’s asking price is the expectation that they will have to hand McAvoy an expensive second deal in the near future as well.
The 19-year-old is eligible to sign a contract extension as soon as July 1st although his next deal won’t start until 2019-20. Assuming he plays heavy minutes and is productive as he was in the playoffs, Shinzawa suggests that McAvoy’s second contract could be comparable to the likes of Dougie Hamilton, Seth Jones, and Colton Parayko, who are all earning at least $5MM on those deals. While the Bruins are well under the cap now, their new contract for Pastrnak as well as all of their long-term, big money pacts to their veterans will still be on the books when McAvoy is up for renewal so GM Don Sweeney may be planning ahead to try to avoid a cap crunch down the road.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The Flyers don’t have any PTO offers in place for defensemen yet, GM Ron Hextall told reporters, including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). However, Hextall is still looking around so that may not be the case for long. Philadelphia projects to have at least a couple of young blueliners start with the team so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team look to add a little bit of veteran competition for training camp.
- Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck dealt with recurring groin troubles last season. He told Newsday’s Arthur Staple that the issue stemmed from changing his skates of all things. He has switched back to his previous ones and isn’t experiencing any soreness now. Clutterbuck is coming off of a below-average season that saw him score just five goals and the continued groin issues undoubtedly contributed to those struggles.