Pavel Zacha's Bruins future rides on a contract year

The question is now out in the open, and the hockey shows are treating it like one of the biggest Bruins stories of the season.

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Could this be Pavel Zacha's final season in Boston? Episode➡️t.co/VcOUi9kusp Presented by: bet365 (@bet365ca) t.co/Fx0nkxWvrn - #bet365 @tyleryaremchuk | @CarterHutton4 | @TheForthPeriod

Here's the setup. Zacha is in the final season of his current deal, which pays him $4.75 million a year and runs out after 2026-27. Last season he scored 30 goals and put up 65 points, both career highs, at age 29. That is a top-six center. That is also exactly the wrong moment, if you're the Bruins, to have him 1 year away from the open market.

The talks have not gotten there yet. Asked about it in September, Zacha said, "We've been talking a lot lately. My agent's been dealing with that. Don knows where we stand... It's out of my control a little bit." Don Sweeney's version was the classic GM line: "Good dialogue, have not found a landing spot," while also calling Zacha "a big part of what we're trying to accomplish." Translation: they like him, they just don't like the number yet.

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What’s Next for Pavel Zacha and the Boston Bruins?

And the number is the whole problem. Zacha has been one of the better bargains on the roster at $4.75 million, but a 30-goal center with the cap going up could reportedly ask for something in the $9 million to $11 million range on the open market. He also can't be offered an 8-year extension under the new CBA, which takes away one of the old tools teams used to stretch a cap hit out and keep it lower.

That leaves Sweeney with the usual 3 choices for a guy in a contract year. Pay him and bet that last season is who he is now. Trade him while his value is at its highest and get a real return. Or wait, see how the Bruins look by the deadline, and risk him walking for nothing next July. Waiting is the one that ends badly for teams most often.

So what to watch is pretty simple. If Zacha starts hot, the price only goes up and the trade talk gets louder. If the Bruins are in the playoff mix, letting go of a top-6 center halfway through the year gets very hard to justify. Either way, every week this goes unsigned is another week of these questions, and right now no one has an answer.