Wednesday was a good day for Brandon Carlo.
How could it not be?
The restricted free agent figured out his contract situation for over half a decade, signing a six-year deal to stay with the Boston Bruins. He’ll make $24.6 million over the life of the contract, giving him a $4.1 million annual cap hit.
The 24-year-old is jazzed.
“Feeling over the moon today,” Carlo cracked Wednesday over Zoom in response to a question about his health following a postseason injury.
The first “big” contract always is an interesting one. Carlo’s last deal, his first non-entry-level contract, was just a two-year bridge. He could have gone the short-term route this time to take him to unrestricted free agency sooner, where he could negotiate with any team around the league and see what his market is.
But for him, the term was important.
“When they came to me with a six-year deal, it was a huge compliment,” Carlo said. “I have a family that’s growing here, and I wanted to pay attention to that. The term was obviously important, and the number is great as well. For me it’s just looking at a number that could set up my family for the time being in this life, just being able to take care of things like that was the biggest thing for me that helped me reach that number.
“Throughout the year I started to have ideas about what I would be around, and that formulated range was something that was important to me and I felt like I was valued at. Once it got to that point, I was ready to ink it up.”
Carlo will have just finished his age 30 season by the time his contract is up, which will give him one more opportunity to cash in — whether that’s with Boston or elsewhere.
But that’s a down the road matter. For now, he’s happy where he is.
