Intriguing Comments From Bruins' Pavel Zacha About Heading Into Season With No Extension

Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha is one of the notable players heading into the final year of their contract this season. With no extension in place, he's eligible for unrestricted free agency after the upcoming campaign. He opened up about that with media at training camp on Thursday, and had some interesting things to say, even as he tried to keep his cards close to his vest. 

Pavel Zacha on the lack of a contract extension with Boston to this point:

"We've been talking lately. My agent's been dealing with that. Don knows where we stand. ... It's out of my control a little bit." pic.twitter.com/7ntOXotuwD

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) September 17, 2026

Zacha wasn't willing to give us much, but he doesn't really seem in any rush.

"Before the summer, I didn’t think there’d be talks. I thought I’d just play it out and see what would happen...

"We've been talking lately... My agent's been dealing with that. (GM) Don (Sweeney) knows where we stand."

Zacha did his best not to compromise his bargaining position, dancing around the question, but admitting that he really likes playing with the Bruins.  

"I just think I'm, you know, excited to be in training camp with the guys. I can smile, play hockey and, you know, play on a team that I like to play on, and that's where it is. It's kind of out of my control a little bit. But I think I'm excited just to start a training camp and get after it, (after) four months of just working out.” 

Zacha is going into the final season of a four-year, $4.75 million AAV deal. He added that he has no problem keeping the extension talks out of his mind. "It's easy, I'm still signed for another year."

Sweeney made it sound like they still have work to do to come to an agreement, but that he'd like to keep the big pivot around. 

"Ongoing communication with Pav’s representative," Sweeney said. "Good dialogue. Have not found a landing spot... We’d like to be able to have him come back... Pav’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization... Every player has its timeline for a deal, and hopefully we get to a landing spot.”

The 29-year-old should be looking to strike while the iron is hot, as he's coming off a career-best year, with 30 goals and 65 points in 78 games, in an average of 16:51 time on ice per night. With numbers like that, in the exploding salary landscape the NHL has entered, Zacha's camp is likely looking at a double-digit AAV, as in $10M++.