We’re nearing month five of this rather embarrassing Bruins and David Pastrnak contract negotiation that has been close to, if not the top NHL offseason story. Given, not much has happened this summer in the world of hockey, but it is rightfully a story that needs to be talked about nationally. This is just another classic move by the Bruins to hesitate to pay high-end, young talent with no good reasoning at all whatsoever.
GM Don Sweeney recently said that there is “no timetable” for a deal to be made, which is straight up laughable. This has been going on for five. goddamn. months. It’s truly unfortunate that there’s an apparent sizeable gap between the two sides and they’ve failed to make any progress since talks began. You can’t really blame Pastrnak’s side, though, because they’ve made it crystal clear what their desire is: a Leon Draisaitl-esque deal around 8 years, $8.5 million.
Boston first offered a 6-year, $36 million deal, which was subsequently turned down because, well, that isn’t what the player wants. The Bruins take what felt like thirty centuries to follow up with a 7-year, $42 million offer, which is the same annual average as the first deal, plus one year. That is so Bruins, it hurts. At this rate, it will soon come out that they offered an 8-year, $48 million deal, right? I will never understand why this team continuously cheaps out on giving young talent the money that they’ve proven they deserve.
We’ve all seen this go down a million times before on Causeway Street, most notably with guys like Phil Kessel, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin, all whom quickly went on to prove that they were in fact worth the money on another team, flipping the Bruins the double birds in the process. Boston always has some sort of pathetic excuse as to why they chose not to pay these young stars. With Kessel, he had issues with the coaching staff and didn’t like speaking to the media. With Hamilton, I’m not exactly sure why the Bruins hated him, but Hamilton admittedly didn’t want to be a part of the team near the end of his tenure, which you can’t blame him for. They probably blamed irrational stuff on him and tried to downplay his skill level, or something silly like that. Both Kessel and Hamilton in their time with the Bruins were rising stars, but were traded away for pennies (pennies = a few total draft picks).
As for Seguin, the Bruins said that they were concerned about his immaturity off the ice which led them to deal the young stud for Loui Eriksson, Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser, all who are long gone from the Bruins organization. The moral of the story is, the Bruins make up constant excuses for why they choose to deal these potential franchise cornerstones. Given what we know of, there are no issues with Pastrnak as a player or as a person. So, if the team really is stupid enough to let him go, they’ll have some serious explaining to do and will probably throw up all over themselves in the process, per usual.
In a league that values and is primarily focused on youth, skill and speed, you can’t afford to let a player like Pastrnak go. He’s one of, if not the centerpiece of this team’s youth movement; the Bruins have had plenty of players in similar situations in the past and let go of them for pennies on the dollar. Fans are rightfully nervous that a deal will not get done and they’ll lose yet another pivotal piece to this neverending Bruins puzzle and will end up right back where they started. It would be one thing if Pastrnak wasn’t an essentially proven star in this league, but he is just that. Given his age and production thus far in his career, it shouldn’t be difficult to lock him up. This is the Boston Bruins, though, so of course they’re making the simplest of situations irrationally difficult.
The Bruins dislike being viewed as an organization that doesn’t value high-end, young talent who would rather trade them away for pocket lint than pay market value for them. The funny thing is, Bruins, you’re just that. I can’t count the number of times this team has cheaped out on paying a player to the likes of David Pastrnak after paying them little to nothing for the first couple of years with no good explanation. If this team really isn’t sold on him, then who the hell are they even sold on?
Lately, when people discuss Boston sports, they rave about the Patriots and their obvious high points like Tom Brady and his high-powered offense surrounding him and Bill Belichick and his brains that have driven New England to their longstanding success since the turn of the century. They rave about the Red Sox and just how godly Chris Sale is plus the team’s young talent with the bat and the glove in Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers. They rave about the Celtics’ sudden explosive moves over the summer in signing Gordon Hayward and trading for Kyrie Irving.
When it comes to the Bruins, there’s nothing to talk about. They’re always left out of the conversation because there are no positives to talk about with this team. They’re in a downward spiral and have little to nothing going for them. Maybe, just maybe, if they figure themselves out and ink Pastrnak to a new deal, things will change. Until then, the Bruins will continue to be the redheaded, ugly stepsister in New England that nobody even dares to make eye contact with. They’ve gotten lucky in recent times being able to sign Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand to fairly cheap deals. Those days are over. It’s time to sign a true stud, offensive player to what they’re worth and make them the face of the franchise for years to come. I promise, it isn’t that difficult.
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