Kalman: Bruins Will Order Up Healthy Helping Of Pasta For Years To Come
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Everyone loves Pasta. That is to say, if you're a backer of the Bruins you are currently legally obligated to love David Pastrnak.
Well it might not be against the law to say or think something negative about the third-year forward, but what the heck would you say negative about him? The kid is the real deal and is coming into his own this season at 20 years old.
Pastrnak heads into the Bruins' game at Philadelphia on Tuesday with 13 goals in 17 games. He's landed a remarkable 55 shots on net in that span. Since Pastrnak's rookie season, he's seventh in goals per 60 minutes at 1.39 among players with at least 100 games played. The six players ahead of him are Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Steven Stamkos, Rick Nash and (sorry) Tyler Seguin.
Pastrnak is on a 30-goal pace for this season and there's no telling how high his ceiling will be raised in the seasons ahead. That's why when The Boston Globe proposed this week that the Bruins act quickly to sign Pastrnak to a contract extension before he becomes a restricted free agent, everyone panicked. Could Pastrnak follow Seguin, Phil Kessel and Dougie Hamilton out the door? Will the Bruins give six-goal scorer Dominic Moore an extension and forget about Pastrnak?
The answer is no. Take a deep breath. Pastrnak is going to be here as a cornerstone of this organization. There's no way they could be foolish enough to let him walk or even to let him feel even the slightest bit ignored. Pastrnak personifies everything general manager Don Sweeney has been preaching about the Bruins. The Czech Republic native is young, talented, and plays an all-around game. He has an edge to him and has been developed from being a value draft pick at No. 25 in 2014 into a first-line forward.
Pastrnak is the type of player the Bruins should lock up (how's five years and $25 million sound?) and then worry about the rest of the rest and the salary cap after. His talent is nearly impossible to replace, especially in an NHL where every team locks up their Pastrnak types, and he also seems fully enmeshed in the organization and city.
By all accounts, Pastrnak loves it here. He enjoys the city, the team, his role and – don't faint, non-believers – he loves the coaching. Sure, coach Claude Julien has shown tough love toward Pastrnak the past couple of years when the creative forward has gotten a little too wild for the team's liking. All Pastrnak has done is respond to every benching and criticism by making himself a better player. He showed extra commitment when he spent most of the summer in Boston working out. When he wasn't in Boston, he was traveling China to promote the Bruins brand. When the Bruins sent him to the World Junior Championship twice, asked him to play some in Providence and played him with some odd linemates (a few games on the fourth line), Pastrnak never complained. This isn't a guy with Jonathan Drouin or Jacob Trouba privilege complex. That's why the Bruins can trust that, barring injury, Pastrnak would make a great investment for the future. He's not likely to get complacent.
Once upon a time the Bruins re-signed Seguin to a reasonable contract. They then undid their wise move with a trade. They let Hamilton pressure them into a trade that has yet to benefit the NHL roster. When it comes to Pastrnak, the only thing the Bruins can do is get a contract done and continue to build around him as Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci age and the legions of prospects coming up through the pipeline begin to make their way to the NHL.
Considering Sweeney's stated philosophy of organization building and Pastrnak's embraces of the Bruins, the only thing to do here is to sign a healthy extension. There's little reason to believe they won't get it done.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.
