On Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins …
Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: The 28-year old Brad Marchand is coming off a career high 37 goals. He is entering the final year of his deal, and his camp and the Bruins are talking about a contract extension.
It wouldn’t be wrong for Marchand to ask for something in the $7 to $7.5 million per year range, deals similar to Bobby Ryan and Zach Parise. He’ll also likely be looking for a seven or eight year deal.
Cam Neely said this week that getting Marchand signed to an extension is one of their bigger priorities.
“We’d like to get Brad signed. We’ve made that clear to him, and we’ve made that clear to his agency. I know Don has been working with their group to a get a deal done,” said Neely on CSN’s Great American Hockey Show podcast. “We’d like to get something done before the start of the season.”
On Johnny Gaudreau and the Calgary Flames …
Frank Seravalli of TSN: Johnny Gaudreau is one of the players who remains unsigned and is playing in the World Cup of Hockey. Gaudreau told his agent, Lewis Gross, to not talk to him about his contract situation while he’s still in the tournament.
“I didn’t want to get it in my head,” Gaudreau said. “I don’t think I’m going to talk to my agent for the next 20 or 30 days about the contract. I’m here for Team North America and I want to put that aside and worry about playing time for this team. After the tournament, we’ll see how the contract is going.”
Jacob Trouba is another one of the RFAs that is playing in the World Cup. Trouba’s agent wouldn’t comment on the how the negotiations with the Jets are going. It’s believed that little progress has been made in the past few weeks. Money could be one issue, but so could his fit with the team. Trouba would rather play on the right side, but the Jets are overloaded there.