A troubling update for Bruins fans on Pastrnak negotiations

It's nearly January, 2023 and the Boston Bruins are the kings of the NHL.

The Bruins are an absolute wagon this season and are the early Stanley Cup favorites. But, while morale is high amongst the team's fanbase, there's still a giant elephant in the room in the form on David Pastrnak's pending free agent status.

Pastrnak is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason and NHL insider Pierre LeBrun reports that the Bruins may have difficulty getting their star forward under contract before he reaches the open market. In his latest column for The Athletic, LeBrun reports that the Bruins may be looking at an "Evgeni Malkin-like" situation where they have to sign Pastrnak on the open market. A year ago the thought of Malkin re-signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins was mostly a foregone conclusion, but if you remember it actually took a bit of last minute negotiating to convince him to return. Are the Bruins in a similar situation now with Pastrnak? Lebrun seems to think so.

More from LeBrun:

Bruins’ most prolific offensive superstar, would have been extended before the season began, let alone before Christmas.

There’s been ongoing dialogue, but my sense is the gap in positions is real.

On one side, you’ve general manager Don Sweeney trying to maintain a Bruins salary-cap culture that’s the envy of every front office of the league, which means trying to get Pastrnak to take less than market value to stay put. On the other, you’ve got veteran agent J.P. Barry, who is fresh off negotiating Matthew Barzal’s whopper of an extension with the Islanders in the fall. As long as Pastrnak doesn’t blink, he’s got an agent willing to stand his ground and wait for the kind of deal that a special player like this deserves. Which is to say, an average annual value in double digits on a long-term deal.

Pasta doesn’t want to go anywhere, so my prediction is he does re-sign. But it might take some Evgeni Malkin-like, 11th-hour drama around June 30 or July 1.

- Pierre LeBrun

The flip side, of course, is that the Bruins can't even THINK about trading Pastrnak. So if they do come up short in contract negotiations, they are likely to lose their superstar forward for nothing.