Boston Bruins sign Brandon Carlo to team-friendly extension

Shortly after signing Charlie McAvoy, the Boston Bruins finished up their offseason business by signing RFA defenseman Brandon Carlo to a bargain deal. It’s for two years and it’s worth $2.85 million annually.

The Boston Bruins have had a relatively quiet offseason after narrowly losing to the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Their two top priorities were re-signing two of their top defensemen – Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. On Sunday, they wrapped things up with McAvoy. And on Tuesday, the Bruins announced they’ve signed Carlo.

This deal is for two years, which isn’t surprising. Given the Bruins cap situation, a bridge deal was inevitable for both McAvoy and Carlo. The average annual value is $2.85 million, which makes the contract a nice bargain. Carlo will make $2.2 million in 2019-20 and $3.5 million in 2020-21.

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It’s not quite as good of a deal as McAvoy’s, but it’s still below market value. Carlo put up 10 points last season in 72 regular season games while averaging 20:55 of ice time per game. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he added two goals and two assists for four points while playing 21:31 per game.

Carlo has played three seasons for the Bruins. In those three seasons, he has eight goals and 32 points in 230 regular season games. Additionally, Carlo has four points in 24 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He has averaged at least 20 minutes per game in two of his three seasons.

Last season, Carlo averaged over 18 minutes of ice-time at even strength for the Bruins. McAvoy was the only Bruins defenseman who averaged more ice time at even strength. Furthermore, his 2:46 of ice time killing penalties trailed only Zdeno Chara.

Carlo’s primary partner at five-on-five last season was Torey Krug. Even away from Krug, he posted decent underlying stats. Krug is more offensively inclined than Carlo. Carlo’s ability to play defense makes him an ideal partner for the Bruins best puck mover.

A two-year deal works very well for both parties. It allows the Bruins to further evaluate Carlo and see if his offense develops. Also, it lets Carlo potentially set himself up for a nice long-term deal. With Chara taking things from year to year, it also allows him to prove he can be the Bruins next huge defenseman.

Carlo is very good at limiting scoring chances against. His offense is unimpressive at best, but he does a lot of good things that don’t wind up on the stat sheet. Carlo’s the kind of defenseman the Bruins value. A two-year deal gives the Bruins a chance to continue to evaluate him while it gives Carlo a chance to prove himself.