NHL Rumors: Charlie McAvoy, Bruins Making Progress; What’s Helped ‘Move Things Along’

Training camp kicked off Thursday for the Boston Bruins, and Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, as expected, were not present.

But that might not be the case for long, at least for McAvoy.

Both McAvoy and Carlo are restricted free agents and have yet to sign a deal. But as the restricted free agent market begins to heat up, so too are chats between McAvoy and the Bruins, according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.

The Zach Werenski contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets LeBrun mentions is a three-year, $15 million bridge deal signed earlier this week. Werenski’s deal is backloaded, so his base salary is $4 million in the first two seasons and $7 million for the third, but the cap hit each season is $5 million.

It is not a total shock that it has taken this long for things really to start heating up. In addition to the free-agent market moving slowly, the Bruins have just north of $8 million in cap space, which appears to be making it tough to re-sign both McAvoy and Carlo.

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