Tag Archives: mcavoy

What Will the Bruins Do with McAvoy and Carlo

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On Tuesday night the Boston Bruins announced they signed restricted free agent Danton Heinen to a two-year deal with a $2.8 million cap hit. The NHL salary cap for the 2019-2020 season is $81.5 million, and the Bruins have about $8 million available. Now that Heinen is signed, what will be done with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo? McAvoy played 54 regular season games with 7 goals and 21 assists, totaling 28 points. In the post season he played 23 games with 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points. Carlo played 72 regular season games, tallying 2 goals and 8 assists for 10 points. In the postseason he played 24 games with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points total.

Photo by Winslow Townson

Navigating the Cap

Last season Brandon Carlo was not as productive in points as Charlie McAvoy, but they’re both effective on the ice and bring speed and physicality to the team. Both are also now restricted free agents who want (and deserve) bigger contracts. With so little cap space, however, this will be a difficult task. The Bruins have a few options to explore, the most likely will be to trade players who are older and less productive. Defenseman John Moore, 28, is a likely candidate with a cap hit of $2.75. After 61 games played in the regular season, Moore got only 4 goals and 9 assists for 13 points. He played 10 postseason games and went pointless. Likewise, injury-prone defenseman Kevan Miller, 31, has a cap hit of $2.5 million and missed much of last season and the entirety of the postseason.

Trading Backes

David Backes is the subject of much discussion in this regard. He’s 35 with an annual cap hit of $6 million. He’s not as productive as he once was, and was a healthy scratch during stretches both in the regular and postseason. Trading Backes would free up a lot of space to sign McAvoy and Carlo, but can the Bruins find a team willing to take on those cap hits? There are teams out there with a large enough gap. Teams like Colorado, Winnipeg, and Ottawa all have over $20 million available, and could be good trade targets.

Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images

Bridge Contracts

Another option would be bridge contracts. While McAvoy and Carlo likely want larger, long-term contracts, they could be signed to short term contracts with the understanding that they’ll be revisited in a couple of years, once contracts expire for players such as Backes, David Krejci, and Tuukka Rask.

McAvoy is the Priority

One more potential solution, though not necessarily the most desirable, would be to only sign one of the two. If that’s the case, it has to be Charlie McAvoy. His production, ice time, and style of play makes him an obvious franchise player. You can count on the fact that the Bruins will sign McAvoy no matter what.

Photo by Brian Babineau
McAvoy

Charlie McAvoy: What’s Next?

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The 2018-2019 NHL season is rapidly coming to a close. The Boston Bruins have clinched the Eastern Conference and are four wins away from winning the Stanley Cup. This would be their first time in eight years and the seventh time in franchise history. The Cup is close to coming back to Boston. No matter what happens, the off-season is looming in the near-future, and with it contract negotiations.

Photo by Joshua Kloke

Contract Extension

One of the biggest off-season moves for the Bruins is extending defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who becomes a restricted free agent at the end of this year. McAvoy has been a reliable staple on the blue line lately, partnered with Zdeno Chara. He recently turned down a long-term offer by the Bruins, suspected to be due to recent offers to similar players such as defenseman Esa Lindell. Lindell was extended by the Dallas Stars on a 6 year, $34.8 million contract, giving him $5.8 million a year. He scored 11 goals this season and put up 32 points. Making that more enticing is his youth. Lindell is only 25. McAvoy wants a similar contract and why not? The kid’s young with plenty of potential that he’s sure to live up to.

Value

Charlie McAvoy was an integral part of the USA team in the 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. He received the Player of the Game honor in their gold-medal game win. McAvoy’s also got youth on his side, at 21 years-old, and his stats are impressive this season. He’s missed 28 games due to a concussion, a lower-body injury, and a one-game suspension. Despite that, he has 8 goals and 35 points thus far. McAvoy has the ability to become a superstar on an already star-studded Bruins roster.

(Getty Images)

Salary Cap Era

Unfortunately, we live in the salary cap era. Dallas can afford to pay Lindell $34.8 million over 6 years because they have the cap space. The Bruins aren’t as fortunate. GM Don Sweeney is still filling the hole that was dug by former GM Peter Chiarelli. McAvoy would be in the upper-echelon pay scale of Bruins players with a contract similar to Lindell’s. He’s a great defenseman who looks to only get better, but is he worth paying as much or more than someone like David Pastrnak? More to the point, is he worth paying so much against the cap that the Bruins can’t afford to keep some of their other top-tier players for much longer? The Chicago Blackhawks did that a few seasons ago with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and it hurt the team.

What Can Be Done

One potential solution is extending the time on the contract. An amount such as $30 million over four years is unrealistic, but over six or seven years could be manageable. It comes down to McAvoy and what he’s willing to accept versus what he feels he’s worth. Would he be willing to take a pay cut to stay in Boston? Furthermore, what happens if the Bruins win the Stanley Cup? The way McAvoy plays combined with his ice time would be factors in that win, giving him a much larger bargaining chip. However, the salary cap is ruthless and inflexible. Only time will tell but this will certainly be an interesting and potentially exciting off-season.

Ryan Donato: the Next Young Bruins Star

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The Bruins youth has been responsible for a good portion of the team’s success this season. Guys like Pastrnak, Heinen, and McAvoy have provided plenty of scoring depth in addition to the consistent production from the top line. This has propelled the team all season, and it seems like there’s only more to come. Bruins draft pick Ryan Donato is having a career year at Harvard with 31 points through 23 games. He has proven that he’s ready for the next step. Fresh off a stellar Olympic tournament, it seems that the young phenom might be on Garden ice sooner rather than later.

The Local Prodigy

Ryan has lived every New England hockey player’s dream. He is the son of former Bruin Ted Donato, and grew up right in Scituate. He spent his high school years playing for both Dexter and the Cape Cod Whalers, and even saw some time with the USNTDP team. After putting up 78 points in 30 games as a junior, his hometown Bruins snagged him in the second round of the 2014 draft. Donato finished his high school career with a stat-line of 98-129-227 over 115 games. Do the math and that adds up to 1.97 points per game.

After eight games in the USHL following his senior season, Donato began his collegiate career at Harvard playing for his dad. Ted has served as the Crimson head coach since 2004 and has now coached in over 400 NCAA games. The team reached the Frozen Four for the first time in his career last season, and it’s safe to say that Ryan is what pushed them over the top.

Moving up the Ranks

Donato has 92 points through his first 91 collegiate games and is best known for elite goal scoring prowess. He isn’t the quickest guy out there, but his lethal shot and hockey IQ make him effective in all three zones. What’s really exciting about him is that he’s been able to find immediate success at every level. He got 36 points as a freshman at Dexter, put up ten in his first and only eight games in the USHL, and put up 21 in his first year at Harvard.

He’s handled the increase in skill tremendously at every level and did the same over in Pyeongchang. He was just as advertised- effective in all three zones without sacrificing any offense. His goal scoring ability was first put on display with two beautiful tallies against the Slovaks and continued from there. Donato led Team USA in scoring with five goals and six points through five games. He was one of four collegiate players on the squad.

Much to the delight of Bruins fans, there have even been rumors of him signing immediately after the Olympics. But don’t get too excited, because Harvard could really use him back across the pond. The team is currently standing at 13-10-4 with Donato leading the team in scoring. Due to this his NHL debut may need to wait. There’s no question that Donato should make an immediate impact with the B’s. It’s just a matter of when it’ll happen.

 

Cover image courtesy of BostonPucks.com.

The Bruins Strength This Year Will Surprise You

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The trendy opinion regarding the Bruins is that they will struggle on defense this year, just like the past few years.  But I’m here to tell you….that is “fake news”.

Sure, Zdeno Chara is 40 years old and certainly far from his prime, but you mean to tell me he still isn’t a difference maker?  With his training regimen and the shape he’s in, would it shock you if he released a book called ZC33 this year?  Most importantly, the infusion of youth on the back-end will allow Cassidy and the team to really manage his minutes this year as opposed to just saying they’ll manage his minutes.  If he is well rested in April, look out for the big man come playoff time.

Tory Krug had his best offensive season of his career last year with 51 points.   Six of his 8 goals coming on the PP while also improving his game in the defensive zone.  The Bruins went 3/14 on the PP against Ottawa in last year’s playoffs, and if Krug was healthy, I believe that series has a different outcome.

Did you like what you saw from Brandon Carlo prior to his injury last year? That’s rhetorical, so don’t answer that, of course you did. How about what you saw from Charlie “Norris TBD” McAvoy? At 18 years old, his first NHL action was in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and not only did he look like he belonged, he stood out in a series featuring the best defenseman in the world in Erik Karlsson. He will be a serious Calder trophy candidate, if not, the outright winner.

Kevan Miller was noticeably improved late last season on both ends of the ice, and looks to be a legitimate top 4 guy and his stay at home nature will allow Charlie to wheel and deal. Adam McQuaid is Adam McQuaid, love him or hate him his toughness and grit gives the backend some snarl, sorely lacking in today’s NHL.

Feel good about the Defense yet? Good, because you should, it’s the Bruins strength entering the 2017-18 season.

@jeffdyerbruins