Pasta will get 6-6.5

Ok you said I could so.....
By The Way, I'm giving you 4 stars because it's pretty darn good.
Sweeney sells Pasta and his team that to win a cup with Bergy and Marchy and Krejci, he's going to have to bite the bullet for a few years (5). Then those guys are too old anyway. And Pasta can become the highest paid Bruin....but for now, $6.5AAV for 5-6 years (he will only be 26/27, so still 10-12 years to make huge money. Best chance in near future to win a cup is with Bergy and Marchy and Krejci. Don't handcuff the team with an unnecessarily high contract.
Bjork needs to be schooled for a year. Put Heinen in. He knows the system.
Everything else is perfect!!! So we're not that far apart!!!

I'm hoping your right. But TopShelf doesn't think so......

If he and his agent want a 7 or 8 year deal he'll want at least Krejci type money. On an 8 year deal I'd be using Kuznetsov's deal as a comparable. If it's fewer years then the cap hit will go down a bit though, as you said.

Paul I posted in your mock why a 5 year deal is a major issue. We lose him for nothing or pay him 12.5M or close yearly. I'd rather just give him an extra 1M spread out yearly for 7 years than pay him 6.5 for 5 years and bump him up to 12M+ after that. We'd save far more money just paying him the extra million and getting him signed for longer term. Just to do the math for you, 7 years at 7.5M = 52.5M...... 5 years at 6.5 = 32.5 then you add in his what you sign him as a UFA for which is 12M+ for those 2 years you didn't want to get at 7.5M...... so its 32.5M + 24M for those 2 years which equals 56.5M and you end up paying more than you would have had to in the first place. There is no way he'd get paid less than 12M+ 5 years from now if he just stays at the level he's at and if he gets better it could be 15M.

Paul we also differed on Vatrano and Beleskey. I feel Beleskey is the no brainer for line 2 the way he'd fit in and Vatrano fits the 3rd line much better, given he wants to shoot all the time. Lets not put Vatrano with Krejci and Pasta and take opportunities to shoot away from Pasta. I think if you really examined each players strengths and weaknesses, you would agree with me That Beleskey Krejci Pasta and Vatrano Spooner Backes are better lines than Vatrano Krejci Pasta and Beleskey Spooner Backes.

I'm actually ok with both. On another mock I said I wanted Beleskey to start with Krejci and Pasta to give him the best shot at getting his production value back up. I still believe he has it in him. Most others write him off. At least we can mostly agree on this one.

TopShelf (I hope you don't mind me calling you that - It's just meant in fun I value your opinion):

I understand the math. So, $4m difference over 7 Years. And how much will the Cap ceiling go up by then? $10M? More? And at that point Pasta becomes maybe the highest paid Bruin anyway.

The whole issue with smaller term is that Senior Bruins will be at ends of their career and may retire in 5-6 years. This means the current core other than Pasta- Bergy/Marchy/Krekci/Backes/Rask will be close to retirement. And they will retire Bruins - I don't see any of these guys ever being moved. It's not the Bruins style. If they move potential key guys, they do it when they are young Seguin/Thornton etc. They find the type of player they like (outside of hockey - character, community supporters etc etc). It's a mandate of the Jacobs family.

So, if Pasta wants a good shot at a cup, you do a "quasi-bridge" and take a little less now to NOT handcuff management to the cap, and let them add the pieces in the next 2-5 years that give them legitimate shots at the cup again before the core retires. That's my thinking.

I also don't like player comparisons - I know the media likes to use them and agents like to use them. But c'mon, get more than Krejci? Krejci signed a long time ago and it was after several strong seasons. Pasta really only just busted out last year. It's partly timing - if he busted out in first year of ELC we would have 2 years to assess at a cheap cap hit and then have a better comparison to value him. But we have to lock him up in some way.....I believe in a sell job by the team and Management.....win with us Pasta, don't handcuff us!!! He WILL get paid out huge and for a long time on his next contract. A matter of $4M over a $90-100M career, isn't a lot to ask!!! It's about putting your team above yourself. Still making 6-6.5 not too shabby!!!

Anyway just my thoughts and my hope!!