How David Pastrnak’s New Bruins Deal Stacks Up With NHL’s Elite

David Pastrnak couldn’t help but let his mind wander about the possibility of hitting free agency this summer. Ultimately, though, the desire to remain part of the Bruins was too much.

The $90 million didn’t hurt, either.

Pastrnak on Thursday agreed to an eight-year, $90 million contract extension with the only team he has ever known. The new deal, which keeps him in Boston through 2031, was struck just about four months before he was set to hit unrestricted free agency for the first time.

The winger on Thursday admitted he had thought about the specter of free agency over the course of negotiations before ultimately making it clear to his agent J.P. Barry: Get the deal done.

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Pastrnak’s new deal gives him generational wealth. He is obscenely rich and will become one of the league’s highest-paid players when the puck drops next season. He’ll no longer be the absolute bargain he is right now — a likely 50-goal scorer making less than $7 million per season — but his $11.25 million annual average value (AAV) probably grades out as below-market.

Relatively speaking, of course.

There are five players in the league with a higher cap hit next season. Here’s how Pastrnak slides into the top-10 contracts by AAV starting next season.

1. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado ($12.6 million)
2. Connor McDavid, Edmonton ($11 million)
3. Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers ($11.64 million)
4. Auston Matthews, Toronto ($11.64 million)
5. Erik Karlsson, San Jose ($11.5 million)
6. David Pastrnak, Boston ($11.25 million)
7. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles ($11 million)
8. John Tavares, Toronto ($11 million)
9. Mitchell Marner, Toronto ($10.9 million)
10. Carey Price, Montreal ($10.5 million)

For as good as Pastrnak is, he’s not quite on the same level as MacKinnon or especially McDavid, though he’s closer than he’s ever been. Regardless, it was Pastrnak’s turn to get paid, and it wouldn’t be a complete shock to see this new deal exceed those above him. There was a non-zero chance Pastrnak was going to sign the richest deal in NHL history.

That might have happened if Pastrnak got to market. Looking ahead to free agency, there aren’t a lot of great teams with the sort of cap room to sign a player like Pastrnak and continue to tailor the rest of the roster. Threading that needle wasn’t going to be easy, especially if Pastrnak wanted to be comfortable and play for a contender.

“Hard to say,” Bruins president Cam Neely said in a press conference Thursday when asked whether he thought Pastrnak left money on the table. “With so many teams against the cap and where the cap may or may not move … it’s hard to really say what would have been out there for him. And would he have liked the situation if there was something out there?”

Luckily for the Bruins, that confluence of factors helped make a return to Boston even more favorable. It didn’t work out too bad for Pastrnak, either.