The NHL’s money is getting louder by the day, and Boston’s cap sheet suddenly looks even better in that light.
With the league watching contracts balloon - from Leo Carlsson’s five-year, $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers to Macklin Celebrini’s new five-year deal worth $18.8 million per season - it’s a good moment to step back and look at what the Bruins are getting for their dollars. Next season, 12 players will carry cap hits of $12 million or more. Last season, that number was six.
Against that backdrop, several Bruins deals stand out as real wins for the team. Here are the five best contracts on Boston’s roster right now.
David Pastrnak sits at the top of the list, and it’s not hard to see why. His cap hit is $11.25 million through 2030-31, a number that looks almost absurd next to the new market for elite forwards.
Pastrnak is one of the top seven or top five offensive players in the sport, and he’s still in his prime. In an era where top forwards are pushing into the $17-18 million range, Boston having him locked in for just over $11 million per year is a massive advantage.
The production backs it up. Pastrnak has piled up 314 points over the last three seasons, fourth-most in the league over that stretch.
Only Nikita Kucherov (395), Nathan MacKinnon (383) and Connor McDavid (370) have more. His 116 goals are sixth-most, his 197 assists fifth-most, and he just finished with a career-high 71 assists.
He’s not only one of the league’s best finishers; he’s a high-end creator, too. And with three top-10 finishes in Hart Trophy voting over the last four years, including a finalist nod in 2022-23, the value is impossible to miss.
Jeremy Swayman comes next. His $8.25 million cap hit runs through 2031-32, and while the contract drew plenty of criticism when it was signed, the story has shifted.
He didn’t get it done until just before the 2024-25 opener, missing training camp in the process, and his play that season wasn’t up to his standard. But last season brought a major rebound, and he earned his first Vezina Trophy finalist spot.
The debate around paying big for a goalie never really goes away, but Swayman’s case is pretty straightforward: he’s a top-five goalie, he cleaned up a lot of Bruins mistakes last season, and his playoff work as a starter has been very strong. If he keeps playing near that level, this deal will look like a bargain.
Morgan Geekie lands at No. 3, and Boston has already gotten value from him on two different contracts. First came a two-year, $4 million deal from 2023 through 2025.
Then came the six-year, $33 million contract he’s on now, with a $5.5 million cap hit through 2030-31. Geekie rewarded the Bruins with a career-high 33 goals in his contract year in 2024-25, then followed that by scoring a career-high 39 goals last season.
That kind of scoring at that price is excellent business. Geekie ranked 15th in goals in 2025-26, and 202 players will carry a higher cap hit than him next season. He doesn’t kill penalties and he’s not a shutdown presence, but his offense far outpaces the money.
Pavel Zacha checks in at No. 4 with a $4.8 million cap hit through 2026-27. A lot of the conversation around him now is about what his next contract might look like, but there’s no question his current deal has been a steal. Zacha posted career highs with 30 goals and 65 points last season, and he’s now scored at least 20 goals in three of the last four years after failing to reach that mark in his first six seasons with the New Jersey Devils.
For Boston, the real edge is that he’s producing like a premium center while making less than $5 million per year. He’s the team’s best center, and he’s doing it at a price that doesn’t come close to matching his value.
Marat Khustnutdinov rounds out the top five. His cap hit is just $925,000, and the deal runs through 2026-27. Boston got him from the Minnesota Wild in the Justin Brazeau trade in March of 2025, and he’s already looked like a strong pickup for Don Sweeney.
The 23-year-old right wing has brought speed, versatility, a strong hockey IQ, a relentless motor and useful offense. He’s been used in both top-six and bottom-six roles, and he’s seen time on both the power play and penalty kill.
For a player at that price, he’s already given the Bruins more than enough to call it a win. His next contract should be an interesting one.
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