Elliotte Friedman teased the news on Wednesday evening when he said the Charlie McAvoy deal was going to be big. When asked for more detail and if he was hinting at double digits, Friedman said he didn’t want to give a definitive number and be wrong, but he believed it would be close.
Throughout the day, multiple reports were that the Boston Bruins and McAvoy had made progress on a new deal. Cam Neely confirmed that there have been productive discussions between the team and McAvoy’s camp on an extension. By most accounts, the number is expected to be big and we could be talking eight years and around $9-$9.5 million per season. Based on the deals for big-minute defensemen this offseason, anything under $9 million would be a steal.
Neely said, “Hopes are we see something here in short order.” This is a deal the Bruins wanted to get done. The organization knows they’re committing to the player and they don’t want the focus of a possible deal hanging over the player or the club this season.
McAvoy has undoubtedly been a top-ten defenseman in the NHL since 2017-18 when he entered the league and played regular minutes. He plays in all situations and runs the show for the Bruins now. Those types of blueliners get paid.
The Two Sides Want to Make It Work
There’s no reason the Bruins would want to sign anything less than the maximum-term deal with McAvoy and Neely said the player has embraced Boston. He knows the city, having gone to college there, he’s a big fan of the sports environment, (he was spotted at the Red Sox game just recently) and the fan base is fully behind the player.
“I haven’t seen or heard anything from Charlie that says he doesn’t want to be here for a long time, said Neely. Based on the reports on Wednesday, it sounds like that’s accurate.
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