REPORT: David Pastrnak and Boston Bruins are NOT even close on a contract renewal

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Ryan
August 11, 2022 (12:35)

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It's been an interesting offseason for the Boston Bruins and their fan base. The playoffs ended in disappointment, and it got even worse when it was announced that Brad Marchand is going to miss the first few months of the season due to injury and captain Patrice Bergeron was unsure about his future.

Luckily for the Bruins though, the past week has given them some hope that the Bruins can still be a contending team. On Monday, the Boston Bruins announced that they resigned their captain for 1 year and also brought back a fan favourite to fill the second line center role in David Krejci.

While this is definitely enough to raise the spirits of Bruins fans, one thing that is still a reason for concern is David Pastrnak and his contract. Pastrnak is coming off a season where he scored 40 goals and 77 points in 72 games.

The 26 year old signed a contract back on September 14th 2017, that turned into one of the best bargains deals of the decade. Now, after years of being 'underpaid' Pastrnak is looking to strike it big on his next deal, and it does not seem like these two parties are anywhere close to agreeing on a contract.

Pastrnak is a UFA, and we just saw a star in Johnny Gaudreau leave and get $9.5 million in Columbus, but was also offered $10.5 million in Calgary. Then we saw Jonathan Huberdeau, who is also older than Pastrnak get $10.5 million in Calgary.

According to According to Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now:

The B's and star David Pasternak remain far apart as contract talks are on going. Pastrnak wants Johnathan Heuberdeau money (10.5x8) while the Bruins want to sign him to a Johnny Gaudreau type contract, (9.7x7).

The Boston Bruins are in a very tough situation right now, as the team is old and they are very little coming in the prospect pool. Seeing Bergeron and Krejci only sign 1 year deals, it feels like the Bruins are taking one more run at the cup, then after this season possibly entering a rebuild. So now the question begs, what to do with Pastrnak? If they want to contend for the cup, they need Pastrnak, but if they want to rebuild, they cannot afford to let him walk in free agency after this season and receive nothing in return for him.

What would you do as the Bruins GM?