With the start of the Bruins’ 2021-22 season right around the corner, Don Sweeney and Cam Neely held their annual season-opening press conference on Wednesday afternoon and touched on a number of topics, including a potential new contract for Charlie McAvoy and the questions still remaining on this roster.
Here are a few of the top takeaways from Neely and Sweeney’s Zoom conference:
Bruins working on Charlie McAvoy’s contract
Most of the discussions between the media and Boston’s top brass usually tend to revolve around the closing window of this current core and the shelf life of veteran stalwarts such as Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand — but hope lies in younger franchise stars in David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy for a potential retool on the horizon, rather than an arduous rebuild.
But in order to start building toward such a future, the Bruins are going to have to retain both McAvoy and Pastrnak — who are due for hefty new contracts in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
And given the fact that both skaters are likely only going to raise their stock even more with another 82-game season under their belt this year, it seems like the Bruins are getting ahead of such a payday.
Speaking on Wednesday, Neely said that the Bruins have been working with McAvoy and his camp on the parameters of a new extension that would keep the B’s top D-men in place for the foreseeable future.
"Don and (assistant GM) Evan (Gold) have been working with Charlie's camp the last couple of days,” Neely said. “So my hopes are we'll see something here in short order, but you never know until it's signed on the dotted line.”
Sweeney, as expected, kept his cards a bit closer to his chest when it came to mapping out a potential finish line for contract negotiations with McAvoy.
"There's nothing imminent, but we're hopeful,” Sweeney said, adding: “We would dearly like to have Charlie with the organization for a long period of time."
Obviously, the sooner the Bruins lock up McAvoy, the better — especially with his value set to soar even higher if he gets more reps on Boston’s top power-play unit this season. Sweeney and the Bruins have established a pretty impressive track record of retaining talent at or below market value when it comes to new contracts, but given the state of the market for franchise D-men, even a long-term deal with an average annual value of $8.5 million or above sure would seem like a win for Boston if it means keeping McAvoy here long-term.
"Well for us, the marketplace at times gets set during the free-agent period, which could be a little overinflated, as we've all seen in free agency,” Neely said. “That's just the nature of the business, but I think in the past we've been very fair and honest with our players when we negotiate with them. It's not about trying to win anything, it's about trying to land at the right spot where both sides are very happy and that's what we hope to do with Charlie."
Any early concerns?
In terms of any potential red flags following a few weeks of camp and six preseason matchups, Neely echoed some of the sentiment that fans have shared over the last few days — namely question marks in the bottom-six group (namely the fourth line) and Linus Ullmark’s slow start to preseason play.
And even though Charlie Coyle put together a strong debut on the second line next to Taylor Hall and Craig Smith, Neely stressed that the pivot will still need some time to adjust to such a high-leverage role in Boston’s lineup.
“Not necessarily a concern — but I still think we need to flesh out what may be the bottom part of the lineup looks like,” Neely said. “Is Charlie Coyle going to be able to mesh well with Taylor and Craig — there's only one game there. So we want to see a little bit more of that.
“But nothing really negative jumped out to speak of. I mean, obviously, Ullmark, we kind of knew that he'd have a slower camp than most. He didn't play — I think his last game was early April last year. So we kind of expected a little bit of a slow start from him. So I know that (goalie coach) Bob (Essensa) has been working with him, getting more reps in practice. So we'll see where that goes as well.”
'Doors open' for Krejci and Rask
As for the lingering question that I’m sure we’ll revisit many times this season in terms of a potential return for Tuukka Rask and/or David Krejci, Neely once again reiterated the same stance that Sweeney offered up earlier this offseason. Nothing is set in stone and the ball is in the players' court, but the Bruins will keep all options open.
“Well, the doors open. We'll see what happens,” Neely said. "I mean, Tuukka's going through his rehab process and we'll see where that takes him. We told them both that the door is open if they do decide to try and come back and then we'll see where it goes from there. But that remains to be seen from both of them.
“It really depends on where they're at, both mentally and physically. And from Krejci's perspective, if he has an interest in coming back and leaving — I know the family situation was very important for him and rightfully so, so we'll see where it goes.”
Addressing center depth remains a priority
Yes, the Bruins might have a couple of key pieces for the future in Pastrnak and McAvoy — but Boston’s hopes of avoiding a dreaded rebuild might come down to whether or not the B’s find some worthy replacements down the middle once Bergeron eventually retires.
Whether it be Jack Studnicka’s eventual ascension into the NHL ranks (on a permanent basis) or dealing for a top-six pivot like Tomas Hertl or Jack Eichel, expect the Bruins to be vigilant this season when it comes to bolstering its depth at center this season — because if Bergeron does eventually hang up his skates in the next year or so, things get dire in a hurry for this club.
"Jack had a strong preseason for us. So we have high expectations for him moving forward, whether it's at some point during this year or later in the year or next year for that matter,” Neely said of center depth. “But it is something the organization has looked at and said, 'Okay, where are we going to be in a few years time.' We've got time to address it, but not a lot of time, but we will certainly focus on that position.”
As for Patrice Bergeron’s future?
A potential return for both Krejci and Rask might be the most drawn-out storyline this season, but another extended narrative with even more dire ramifications is the future of Bergeron — who has not fully committed to playing hockey once his current contract expires this offseason.
Neely confirmed that talks of a new contract between the Bruins and Bergeron will be tabled until after the 2021-22 season concludes, with the club giving their captain all the time he needs to decide his next steps after wrapping up his 18th season in a black-and-gold sweater.
"I give Bergy a ton of credit, which happens a lot around here,” Neely said. “He wasn't just jumping in an extension without really knowing if he was going to be able to commit the time and energy that he has to do to be the player that he is. Played a lot of hockey, has had some significant injuries in his career. So I think he really wants to, and rightfully so, see how he feels at the end of the year and see if he still has the passion and the drive to be the player that he'd like to be. We're going to give him all that, all that time and space that's needed. I certainly would love to see him continue, but we'll see where it goes."