Boston Bruins playing with fire by waiting to extend David Pastrnak

As the summer slowly ticks by, and the NHL offseason cools off, many Boston Bruins fans have been left scratching their heads. The question running through their minds: why hasn’t David Pastrnak been extended yet?

With the star right wing scheduled for unrestricted free agency after the upcoming season, and the Bruins now officially able to give him a new deal, most thought something would have already been hammered out. General manager Don Sweeney even said the team would be “aggressive” in getting this done. And yet, August is drawing to a close, and the two sides don’t appear to be close to finalizing anything.

Extension should be an easy call for Boston Bruins, David Pastrnak

The lack of any news here is truly puzzling, as this should be a no-brainer for both sides. There’s just no reason for the two parties to not have interest in keeping what has been a very successful partnership.

For the Bruins, talent like Pasta doesn’t grow on trees. In the last five years, he’s got the fifth most goals in all of hockey. The only guys ahead of him are Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. In order, that’s the guy who is going to break Gretzky’s goal record, the guy who just scored 60, and the best offensive duo of the last decade. Pretty good company, no?

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Unless new coach Jim Montgomery is banking on Chris Wagner or Trent Frederic turning into snipers, I think he’d be pretty keen on locking up one of the league’s best offensive weapons long-term. Don Sweeney should have no reason to disagree with that.

And for Pastrnak, there shouldn’t be any reason to leave. Playing for a historic Original Six franchise in the only town he’s known, competitive every year, and a fanbase that loves him. And if it’s only about money or contract term for him, the B’s can offer him more of that than anyone else too.

But the question remains: why the radio silence?

Boston Bruins need to stop the waiting game with David Pastrnak

The main question I have is pretty simple: why? Why risk angering a generational scorer, and one of the pillars of your next era, by not offering him a massive deal as soon as possible?

It just makes no sense, but that’s Don Sweeney for you. More interested in reliving a past “dynasty” that failed more often than not and giving attitude to reporters than actually improving the team. The answer below was from more than a month ago, and still nothing has been done.

That’s a pretty cocky response for a guy who should absolutely not have been brought back this year, and who has consistently failed to build a team with sufficient depth to win it all. Sweeney’s job is one that comes with criticism and requires answering tough questions, especially in a city that cares like Boston does, and he doesn’t seem to be able to handle either.

At this point, extending David Pastrnak is the single most important move that must be made to ensure the Boston Bruins will be a relevant team once Patrice Bergeron retires. They’ve locked up Charlie McAvoy and they’ve got some good prospects in the pipeline, but they need a star, and Pasta is the perfect guy for the job. So please, Don, don’t screw this up.

Pay the man!