As I have posted, I do not have a lot of faith when it comes to these negotiations in Sweeney or Neely. Maybe I am still concerned about how they have shipped out past RWs, and because I think Pastrnak is the opposite of both of the last two (Kessel and Seguin) in his compete level and how he plays defense, I can be biased, to say the least. I just want them to sign him, and move forward.
Yet, the more I read this, it sounds like the Agent is deliberately trying to use that prior negative press to the advantage of his client, but he seems to be doing so in a ham-fisted way. Why take so long to get back to them on an offer? I don't think 8 years at $8m is a reasonable deal, but, that offer should have been made a long time ago. As Felger discussed, I think a good compromise would be 7 years at $7m, but I wonder if that is in the cards.
The KHL stuff is nonsense though. It would suck for me as a Bruins fan having him over there, but Pasta will just about immediately regret that decision. I think he signs, but this process hopefully concludes prior to training camp. Having this drag into the season would be detrimental to the team as a whole, and damage the relationship with Pasta long term.