There are quite a few restricted free agents that still haven’t been signed yet, but the Boston Bruins still have two of them in defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo and the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter suggests that fans may have to sit through not seeing them at training camp and potentially even having them sit out like William Nylander did last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Porter suggests that McAvoy could be looking for similar money to that of Jacob Trouba, who signed with the New York Rangers for seven years at $8MM AAV. However, a holdout might be necessary because Trouba had the benefit of an arbitration hearing deadline and had all the leverage on his side. That isn’t necessarily the case with McAvoy who doesn’t have arbitration rights and whose only leverage would be holding out. Carlo, an improving defenseman, could be looking for $4MM per season in a long-term deal.
Regardless, the Bruins already tight against the cap for the next few years, need to make sure they don’t overpay for the two defensemen, which might require the team to unload another player down the road.
- In his Saturday’s Slapshots column, New York Post’s Larry Brooks mentions that the New York Rangers and Chris Kreider’s agent Matt Keator, haven’t had a conversation yet about what it would take to sign the 28-year-old to a long-term contract. While Brooks believes that is strange that both sides haven’t spoken yet, he believes that both sides are content to go into the season with Kreider in the last year of his current contract. The Rangers would be hard-pressed to sign Kreider to a long-term deal after handing out long-term deals to Artemi Panarin and Trouba and a number of talented young forwards who will eventually have to be paid down the road as well.
- With a tumultuous offseason ahead for the Washington Capitals in the goaltending category with Braden Holtby expected to become an unrestricted free agent, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir (subscription required) writes in a mailbag column that he wouldn’t be surprised if star goaltending prospect Ilya Samsonov could win the backup goaltending job in training camp. It would help the team determine whether the 22-year-old might be ready to take over as the team’s starting goaltender in 2020-21. Samsonov had an up-and-down first season in North America last season, putting up a .898 save percentage in 37 games with the Hershey Bears, but was much more impressive in the second half. However, there is no guarantee that he is ready for a back-up NHL role yet, so don’t count out Pheonix Copley.
McAvoy had 28 points last season & hasn’t scored more than 32 points in a season. He also hasn’t proven to be durable. He doesn’t deserve $8 million a season yet. Trouba is coming off a 50 point season & has proven to be more durable than McAvoy thus far. I’m a Bruins fan & I really like McAvoy, but he’s delusional if he thinks he is worth $8 million a season at this point. Sign a 2-year bridge deal at $6.5 million a season & prove that you can play an entire season. Then, you get your pay day. That is what Trouba did. McAvoy should follow the same path
I’m also a Bruins fan, I’d love to hear what McAvoy is thinking. I agree with ya 100% Eric McAvoy isn’t durable and is 4 years younger than Trouba I think 6 is too high, but a 2 year deal would give us a better idea on how good and durable he is…
count me in as someone who agrees with both of you. McAvoy has a ways to go before he’s near the top of highest paid on the team.
With McAvoy it’s a durability issue. Plain and simple. If he wants Trouba money, he needs Trouba’s durability.
I think the risk is that if you bridge him and he takes that next step (like Habs did with Subban), then you’re paying mega bucks to get any free agent years.
So you pay more than you’d like to now and hope you get a relative bargain later, or you take it slower and run the risk that he improves and demands 10+ million as he gets closer to free agency