Breathe easy, Bruins fans.
Charlie McAvoy is going to be in a black-and-gold sweater for a long, long time.
The 23-year-old defenseman, who was set to become a restricted free agent next summer once his three-year, $14.7 million contract expired, inked the largest contract in Bruins franchise history on Friday — crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s on an eight-year deal worth $76 million.
Following this season, the B’s top D-man will account for a $9.5 million annual cap hit — surpassing the B’s previous high mark of $7.5 million AAV that Zdeno Chara secured with his initial five-year contract back in 2006.
Given Don Sweeney and the Bruins’ excellent track record when it comes to retaining talent at or below market value, seeing that $9.5 million cap hit might take a few fans aback — given the luxury that the franchise has enjoyed when it comes to keeping guys like Patrice Bergeron ($6.875 million AAV), David Pastrnak ($6.66 million) and Brad Marchand ($6.125 million) at a fraction of their true value.
But after an offseason in which other young defensemen like Miro Heiskanen (8 years, $8.45 million AAV), Seth Jones (8 years, $9.5 million AAV), Cale Makar (6 years, $9 million AAV), Zach Werenski (6 years, $9.583), Darnell Nurse (8 years, $9.25 million AAV) and Quinn Hughes (6 years, $7.85 million AAV) all earned sizable payouts — the writing was on the wall that the Bruins were going to finally have to pay up.
And yet, given both McAvoy’s own individual play (besides … Makar? McAvoy is in a tier of his own when compared to the rest of that crop of blueliners), and the future returns when the NHL’s salary cap ceiling inevitably starts to rise, this contract is going to continue to look better and better over time.
And even right now, retaining a player of McAvoy’s caliber without digging into a double-figure annual payout already seems like a steal.
Much more info to come…