{"id":650129,"date":"2026-05-18T10:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650129\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:19:13","slug":"bruins-predicted-to-hand-star-centerman-59-5m-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650129\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruins Predicted To Hand Star Centerman $59.5M Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Bruins<\/a> can make some intriguing decisions this offseason.<\/p>\n

Boston made the playoffs this past season, which was a bit of a surprise, as the Bruins were sellers at the trade deadline a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Boston will look to build off that and go on a deeper playoff run this season. One big question for the Bruins is whether they will be able to extend Pavel Zacha. Zacha has become a top centerman and is eligible for a contract extension on July 1.<\/p>\n

Bruins insider Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic believes Boston and Zacha will agree to a seven-year, $59.5 million deal this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cCenter Pavel Zacha would be opting for security and familiarity over playing out the season and testing free agency on July 1, 2027,\u201d Shinzawa wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe Bruins would be locking up long-term stability at center, even if Zacha is not necessarily a play-driving pivot.<\/p>\n

\u201cZacha is a reliable center who has greater confidence in his finishing touch after breaking the 30-goal threshold for the first time in 2025-26. Re-signing long-term, he would stay on the No.1 line, No. 1 power-play unit and kill penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n

An average salary of $8.5 million for Zacha seems more than fair, and likely would get it done. It would also be a good move for the Bruins to lock in Zacha long-term and have the team\u2019s No. 1 centerman for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Zacha recorded 30 goals and 35 assists for 65 points in 78 games last season with Boston.<\/p>\n

More NHL:\u00a0Bruins Predicted To Extend Young Centerman To Massive $56M Deal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Bruins can make some intriguing decisions this offseason. Boston made the playoffs this past season, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-650129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}