Report Reveals Bruins Tried To Trade Pavel Zacha

The intrigue surrounding the Boston Bruins and pending unrestricted free agent Pavel Zacha continues to veer off in new directions. Last week, we heard that the player himself is in no rush to sign an extension. However, the latest report, from Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, is that the Bruins already tried to trade him before the season began, and they have concerns about an extension. 

Boston was quite interested in Kirill Marchenko before the Columbus Blue Jackets traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the eve of the season for Matthew Knies. The B's were pitching Zacha in a return package to Columbus in trade talks, says LeBrun.

But as for why an extension isn't happening so quickly, the insider delves into a few hold-ups from the team's side.

As far as I can tell, though, the Bruins haven’t been close in talks with his camp over the past three months on what an extension should look like. I think they had some sticker shock in June when they heard what the player might be looking for... 

In the meantime, teams are naturally calling about him. So few centers ever become available.

Bruins concerned about going long-term with Zacha: Report 

But here comes the real reason that Boston is likely hesitating: 

He’s 29 years old, and I think the Bruins are worried about a long-term commitment and how it will age — perhaps sensitive to living with the Elias Lindholm contract already.

Lindholm was signed to a pricey (for the time) seven-year, $7.75M AAV deal in free agency in the summer of 2024 — at the age of 29, same as Zacha is now. Lindholm's contributions as a supposed top-six center have not been what they'd hoped, as he's averaged 17 goals and 47.5 points per season in his two years with the club. There are still five more seasons to run on that deal (including this one), until his age-36 year. 

As for Zacha, to be fair, he comes into this season off the best year of his 12 NHL campaigns, popping 30 goals with 65 points. Thus far, he's scoreless through the first four games of this season.