Pastrnak: Bruins didn't have time for me this summer
The man known as Pasta can become a UFA next summer.
HockeyFeed
To say that goal scoring forward David Pastrnak is a valuable member of the Boston Bruins would be an understatement, to put it lightly. As one of their most consistent and productive forwards, Pastrnak's offensive abilities will be extremely valuable to the squad moving forward, especially as they appear headed towards a potential period of transition away from the upper echelons of the National Hockey League.
Pastrnak is entering the final year of the six-year, $40 million deal that he inked with the Bruins in 2017. Since then, he's enjoyed two seasons of scoring 40+ goals, and reached the 500 point plateau during 2021-22. But what kind of contract can he expect when it comes time to put pen to paper?
According to the man himself, there hasn't exactly been any tremendous progress regarding a new deal to remain with the onnly NHL club that he's ever known.
“The Bruins didn’t have a lot of time for me over the summer because they had other issues to attend to,” Pastrnak explained to Czech media outlet Blesk. “I still have a one-year contract, so I’m not thinking about it at the moment and I want to prepare myself well physically.”
Of course, those "issues" included Bruins general manager Don Sweeney bringing back captain Patrice Bergeron as well as David Krejci each on one-year contracts.
Sweeny seemed accepting of the fact that Pastrnak could very well play the upcoming season without a new deal, leading to a potential situation like that of former New York Islanders captain John Tavares.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s part of the business,” Sweeney replied when asked about that possibility. “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.”
