The Boston Bruins are getting a career-best season out of center Pavel Zacha. The veteran pivot will need a new contract sooner than later, but should it be from the Bruins?
In this season of renewed competitiveness for the Boston Bruins, the contributions of center Pavel Zacha have not gone unnoticed.
The 28-year-old is in the midst of a career season for Boston. He was even the NHL's third star of March, with a league-leading 13 goals. As Bruins GM Don Sweeney charts a new course for his rejigged team, it's now clear Zacha will be an important part of it.
With 28 goals and 60 points in 72 games, Zacha has improved on his previous career-best totals of 21 goals and 59 points from 2023-24.
At an annual salary of $4.75 million, Zacha is giving the Bruins great value for his deal, which runs for another season after the current campaign. Why would Sweeney want to move off of Zacha when he's doing what the team hoped he'd do when they acquired him from the New Jersey Devils in 2022?
Regardless of whether the Bruins make the playoffs this season, Zacha has earned a spot for the short and long term. It's true that he'll be 30 when his contract expires, but that's hardly an age that signals his numbers will soon dry up.
Although the Bruins had an all-time great center in retired icon Patrice Bergeron, with Zacha, youngster Fraser Minten and veteran Elias Lindholm at center, Boston has solid depth down the middle, and they've been able to spread out the minutes rather than relying on one to be a bona fide No. 1 center.
And in a league whose salary cap ceiling is going to rise exponentially in the near-future, the Bruins can afford to give Zacha a major raise on his next contract.
How much of a raise? It might seem like Zacha doubling his cap hit to $9.5 million annually would be a bridge too far. But if we're talking about someone who could become a 30-goal scorer in his prime, re-signing Zacha to a salary between $6 million and $8 million should be something the team can handle.
If Boston fans think that's too rich for their liking, they need to point in a direction where Sweeney can easily acquire a replacement for Zacha. They'll be doing so for quite a while, without the results they're seeking.
Zacha has proven to be a terrific fit in Beantown, and so, unless something catastrophic happens to Zacha's production, the best road ahead will be for the Bruins to find a way to keep him for the long haul.
Boston sent veteran Erik Haula to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Zacha when the latter was an RFA in July 2022 – and it's obvious the Bruins won that trade after signing him. The challenge now is getting his signature on an extension that's as close to team-friendly as possible, but when a player rewards your investment in them while you're retooling, it makes sense to give them enough of a raise to keep them for years to come.
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