NHL Notebook: Bruins will be playing with fire if they can’t lock up David Pastrnak before regular season

Don Sweeney, taking a page out of Michael Corleone’s book, declared on Monday that he was going to “settle all family business” — announcing the signings of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Pavel Zacha all within the span of about five hours.

Well, perhaps “almost all family business” is the apt phrase. 

Looking through the lens of just the upcoming 2022-23 season, the Bruins checked off just about everything left on their offseason to-do list for this current campaign — especially given their tight cap situation.

But the elephant in the room remains for the B’s when it comes to the status of David Pastrnak, a player who not only fits into Boston’s current win-now window, but stands as an essential building block for whatever core Boston hopes to build around in the post-Bergeron era.  

With Pastrnak set to enter the final season of the bargain-bin, six-year contract ($6.66 million cap hit) he inked back in October 2017, the race is on for the Bruins to ink their top sniper to a hefty, long-term contract — locking him in place along other young stars like Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman.

Yes, the Bruins could have some lean years ahead when both Bergeron and Krejci eventually hang up their skates, but retooling a roster that is at least buoyed by a top-five defenseman and a 40+ goal scorer is a pretty good foundation to work with. 

And now, with the B’s short-term plans set in stone with Bergeron/Krejci’s respective returns, it seems as though Sweeney and Co. are focusing their full efforts on getting Pastrnak to sign at the dotted line sooner rather than later. 

“Ongoing would probably be the best way to describe it,” Sweeney said of contract talks with Pastrnak. “We've been in regular communication. Obviously, David's still over in Europe and the likelihood is he'll come back and we'll talk between now and then. When he gets back, we'll maybe have a better idea of a deal timeline. But I don't have one today and you guys know me well enough, I’m not going to comment publicly on ongoing negotiations, but we've been in regular contact with (agent) JP Barry.”

It’s never an easy process when it comes to getting both team and player to bridge the gap on a long-term deal. But all things considered, the Bruins have to like the hand that they’ve been dealt when it comes to working with Pastrnak and his representatives. 

For all of the talk surrounding Pastrnak’s displeasure with the organization earlier this summer, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that the winger enjoys playing in this market and is happy to once again be playing alongside his fellow countryman in Krejci in 2022-23. (Having another Czech product in Zacha certainly can’t hurt, either).

With plenty of money set to come off the books next offseason, the Bruins shouldn’t be in a position where they are going to fret over opening their wallet to pay Pastrnak at market value — although it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if Pastrnak (who went out and bought Sarku Japan at a nearby food court after signing his nearly $40 million contract) is willing once again to sign at below the rate he’d command as a UFA next summer.

Sure, you’re probably still looking at something around $9-$9.5 million per year, but the Bruins will likely be doing backflips if they settle on such a number, considering that there will be plenty of teams willing to hand Pastrnak $11-12 million a year if he goes out and pots another 40 or so goals in 2022-23. 

Still, even if the Bruins do have some factors working in their favor when it comes to negotiating with a player who both likes playing in Boston and isn’t steered solely by his payout, there needs to be a bit of give and take when it comes to eventually getting a player to sign such a hefty deal.

As such, Sweeney did note that the Bruins aren’t going to fret if contract talks have to carry over into the regular season. 

“Yeah, I mean, it's part of the business,” Sweeney said. “You know, leverage is out there and the conversations are ongoing. We've made our intentions known all along and we'll continue to do that, and we'll go from there. But you know, as far as entering the season with it, not a problem.” 

Sure, the Bruins can’t necessarily control the situation if Pastrnak and his camp don’t want to cross the t’s and dot the i's before training camp closes in September. But the urgency needs to be there to wrap this up before the regular season commences. 

Because if these talks carry over into the fall, the B’s are going to make things pretty hard on themselves when it comes to not tying up this final loose end.

Between the pressure already in place with this roster in what could be this core’s final kick at the can, along with Boston’s slew of injuries set to sap this team of some high-end talent in October/November, the 2022-23 Bruins are already going to have plenty on their plate this season. 

The last thing you want to do, given those circumstances, is to let a narrative and prevailing storyline surrounding Pastrnak and his deal also hover over this team.

We all know what’s coming if Pastrnak doesn’t sign by the end of September.

He starts out the season with 12 goals in his first eight games? “Man, he’s going to be asking for EVEN MORE money now!”

He slumps out of the gate? “You know, maybe the B’s should wait a bit and see if he’ll sign for $7.5 million!” (lol)

The Bruins scuffle out of the gate, given their injuries? “Maybe the Bruins should just trade Pasta at the deadline!"

These are all totally plausible scenarios — both the potential twists and turns that come with a long NHL season, and the conversation pieces that yours truly doesn’t exactly want to write about this season.

The last thing the Bruins want to do is have any of these talking points dissected and discussed ad nauseam this season — especially given that Boston’s primary objective is to keep Pastrnak in place for years to come.

Now, if Pastrnak just outright halts contract talks and intends to see what could await him as a top target in free agency? Then the Bruins will need to confront some very hard (and painful) truths this winter.

But that still represents a worst-case scenario for the B’s when it comes to dealing with a player who still seems ready to buy-in in Pastrnak.

The best-case scenario? Pastrnak returns from Europe and arrives in Boston in a few weeks, both parties hammer out an eight-year contract with a $9.5 million cap hit and all of those exhausting narratives are snuffed out before they can even begin to manifest over a long season.

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B’s bolster skills department as part of hockey-ops reshuffle

The B’s announced a host of new appointments, promotions and additions to their hockey-operations department earlier this week — including a number of new hires designed to replace skating and skills coach Kim Brandvold.

The full staff changes are as follows:

• Jamie Langenbrunner has been named Assistant General Manager - Player Personnel.
• Dennis Bonvie has been named Director of Pro Scouting. Ryan Nadeau has been named Director of Amateur Scouting. 
• Dean Malkoc has been named Associate Director of Amateur Scouting. 
• Darren Yopyk has been named Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting.
• Brett Harkins has been named Head College Scout. 
• Parker MacKay has been named Amateur and College Scout.
• John McLean, Tom Ford and David Breen have been named Skating and Skills Consultants. 
• Dustin Stuck has been named Head Athletic Trainer. 
• Joe Robinson has been named Head Physical Therapist. 
• Scott Waugh has been named Manager of Player Rehabilitation.
• Chris Porter has been named Assistant Physical Therapist.
• Seth Greenberg and Natalie Johnson have been named Massage Therapists.
• Seth Reimer has been named Data Engineer. Dan Panaite has been named Developer.
• Brij Singh has been named Manager of Team Operations. 
• Laurenne Mercier has been named Manager of Team Services and Hockey Administration.

With Brandvold joining Jay Pandolfo’s staff at Boston University, the Bruins are expanding their skills and skating department  — with McLean, Ford and Breen serving in similar roles to Brandvold's former position with the B's. McLean, a BC grad and head coach at Malden Catholic, helped establish Dynamic Skating with both Brandvold and Ford back in 2010.

“Jay took a really good, good person and a good professional from our organization,” Sweeney said of Brandvold. “And Kimmer will be missed, I wish him well. You know, in his next endeavors, he has an itch towards coaching. And what's interesting is we were in the process of looking at expanding his role in our footprint here and in the skills and skating development side of things. So, this sort of prompted us to really expand it, to the point where we have a definitive need that has grown here from a standpoint of return to play and the conditioning side of things, not just because we have current injuries, but we had players that have gone through it. 

“Johnny McLean is guy that I've known for an awfully long time. He's been in the same footprint. He's really excited about the opportunity to come in and work with our players at this level. Tom Ford and David Breen are two guys that have walked in the same circle and they're going to be able to probably tap in either backfill Johnny here or most importantly, tap in with our Providence guys on a really more regular basis, which Kimmer had been pulled away a little bit in that regard as well as communicate and break down video on the skill and skating side of things of all our prospects. So, there's a much wider berth that we wanted to kind of touch upon, with the addition of all three guys. And they are excited about joining the organization and hopefully make an impact in the growth and development of our young players.”

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Checking in on B’s prospects at World Junior Championships 

The Bruins might only have three prospects taking part in the 2022 World Junior Championships, but all three have made an impact so far through just a few games at the tournament up in Edmonton. 

Logging fourth-line minutes for Team USA, Riley Duran is continuing to see his stock soar since Boston took him in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft — with the Woburn native adding some scoring punch and tenacious forechecking to his club so far up at Rogers Place.

Through two games, Duran has already scored two goals and added a helper — along with dishing out a few heavy checks. 

After a very promising freshman campaign at Providence College, Duran should be poised to take another major step forward in his next go-around with the Friars. He’s certainly come a long way in the span of just a few years.

Boston’s top prospect, Fabian Lysell, had a relatively quiet opening game for Team Sweden, recording an assist but logging just under 12 minutes of ice time in their 3-2 win over Switzerland on Wednesday.

But on Friday, Lysell was an O-zone force in a 6-0 win over Austria — posting another helper before tallying a sweet snipe from a tough angle. Yes, Austria isn’t exactly a powerhouse on the international stage, but it was encouraging to see Lysell showcase the high-end skill that has elevated him into a blue-chip prospect. We’ll see if he can keep that production going against a few more daunting opponents later this week. 

The final B’s prospect in Dans Locmelis (fourth round, 2022 NHL Draft) might be on a team that’s not expected to make a ton of noise in Latvia, but the 18-year-old has routinely popped out on the ice — scoring a goal in what was a 3-2 loss to Slovakia on Friday. Locmelis has routinely logged heavy minutes in the top-six for Latvia, landing five shots on goal in a 5-2 loss to Canada earlier this week.