Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins defenseman, has signed an eight-year contract extension worth $76 million, according to ESPN sources.
After the season, McAvoy, 23, was to become a restricted-free agent. McAvoy is currently in the last year of a 3-year bridge contract that earned him $4.9million annually. This is the largest deal in Bruins franchise history.
McAvoy's $9.5 million annual average value is comparable to several other NHL defensemen who received large contracts during offseason. These include the Colorado Avalanche's Cale Makar (6 years, $9.45 million AAV), Miro Heiskanen (8 years), the Dallas Stars (eight year, $8.45M AAV), Seth Jones (8 years), the Chicago Blackhawks (eightyears, $9.5M AAV), Seth Jones (8 years), the Chicago Blackhawks (eight-58 million AAV), and Dougie Hamilton (7 years, 9 million AAV)
McAvoy, who began his career with Zdeno Chara as a partner, was able to take over the No. 1 defenseman role last season. He was the leader among all Bruins skaters on ice time at 23:59 per match and he had five goals and 25 assists over 51 games. McAvoy was fifth in Norris Trophy voting.
Don Sweeney, general manager of the Bruins, stated that he thinks highly of Charlie as both a player as well as a person earlier this week. He's becoming a leader, he's been in that leadership group and that is a sign that Charlie has grown into the player and leader we all hoped.
McAvoy, a Boston University student, was selected by Bruins with the No. The 14th overall selection in the 2016 draft. Long Beach, New York native, is expected to join Team USA's blue line at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
The Bruins will open their season Saturday against the Stars.
