Everyone knew that whenever Charlie McAvoy and the Boston Bruins came to terms on a contract extension, it was going to be a mammoth deal. There appeared to be little room or reason for haggling.

And so, on the eve of the 2021-22 season, the Bruins signed McAvoy to a deal that will make him the highest paid Bruin ever, inking him to a maximum eight-year contract worth an average annual value of $9.5 million. The deal will kick in next year after his current bridge deal that has a cap hit of $4.9 million ($7.3 million in salary this year) runs out.

The 23-year-old right-shot defenseman has been everything the Bruins had hoped for when they drafted him 14th overall in 2016 out of Boston University. Since entering the league in 2017, the native of Long Beach, New York, ranks second among all defensemen with a plus-80 rating. Last season, he finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting.

McAvoy, who joked that his first big purchase would be a bunch of bones for his dog, said he was happy to have this bit of business off his plate before Saturday night’s opener against Dallas.

“I think it was something we wanted to do, both parties were trying to do. And every talk was positive and getting towards an angle. And now I just get to do what I love, which is play hockey,” said McAvoy.

The No. 1 defenseman said that the prospect of dipping his toe into the free-agent market years down the road, when possibly the salary cap would rise from its current flat cap of $81 million, was not as important as staying in Boston.

“The whole time I’ve wanted to be in Boston, since the moment I’ve been here. It’s kind of a little bit of a reflection of that it’s just been a dream, to come to BU and be able to stay here, thinking back of getting that opportunity in Ottawa all those years back (in the 2017 playoffs), just get a chance to come in and lay the foundation, it’s just been such a dream to get to this point. Everything I ever wanted was just to be here in Boston. I can’t believe it. I can’t be any happier than I am right now,” said McAvoy.

Coach Bruce Cassidy was clearly happy that his young defenseman would not have the distraction of contract negotiations hanging over his head during the season. But he also cautioned that big contracts can be a burden for some players.

“For us as an organization, obviously (GM Don Sweeney) identified a key to this team that he wanted to lock up long-term as part of this core now and going forward. For a coach, it’s great. He does everything well for us. He works hard and he’s growing into a leader and this probably helps in that. Everyone likes security, and to know he has it will be a big peace of mind for him,” said Cassidy. “The one thing that does happen sometimes is, now do you put more pressure on yourself because you signed a big ticket. So he’s got to be careful. Just go out and play and just been the same Charlie McAvoy you’ve always been, keep getting better, and lead by example. That’s the only discussion we’ll probably have to have at some point.”

On that front, McAvoy sounds like he’s in a good head space.

“I don’t want to put the world on my shoulders,” said McAvoy. “Hockey’s a team sport and there are so many incredible players in our room and I think that’s one of the best things about this team, our depth, and on any given night, guys are going to step up. The expectations for myself is always to play a perfect game, which is never actually what happens. But that’s sort of the pedigree I want to hold myself to. But it’s awesome that this group of guys on any night, someone’s going to step up and I want to be that guy. But we have the depth, we have the talent in here for everyone to pull on the rope.”

According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the deal is $49.5 million in salary and $26.5 million in singing bonuses. There is a full no-movement clause from July 1, 2025, to May 31, 2028. The NMC changes into a 10-team list of teams he can be traded to for the 2028-29 season, and the last year of the deal has a 10-team list of teams to whom he cannot be traded.

McAvoy said he’d love to play his whole career in Boston.

“That was my goal and my vision,” said McAvoy. “My life as of recently is in Boston. I’ve moved here full time. I’m here in the summer. I have my routines and it’s here year-round, barring going to see my family on weekends and traveling. But it’s here. I live here. I love the city, I love the people, the fans, everything. It’s home for me. It’s where I feel I belong, it’s where I wanted to be.”

McAvoy’s point totals may not be quite up to the level of top flight defensemen (24 goals, 98 assists in 235 NHL games), but that will no doubt be rectified this year with his elevation to the club’s top power-play unit. The numbers had already started to creep up last year when he had 5-25-30 totals in 51 games in the COVID-shortened season. But he does not measure his game by points alone, and neither, clearly do the Bruins.

“If you have a couple points and you don’t play good, there is no win in having a couple of points,” said McAvoy.

The writing was on the wall for the huge deal over the summer when the likes of Seth Jones, Zach Werenski and Darnell Nurse all signed deals north of $9 million dollars. Those deals helped set a blueprint for getting a deal done.

“You think of it. It’s there,” said McAvoy about the ongoing negotiations. “But I do try my hardest just to play hockey. I wasn’t lying when I said I’m really just excited about this year. But to have this done and put it behind, I really can just focus on hockey.”

SURPRISING NO ONE, Cassidy announced that rookie Jeremy Swayman would be the Bruins’ starting goaltender for Saturday night’s opener against the Dallas Stars at the Garden.

“We met with both goalies this morning and we mapped out where we were this morning, our thought process. Linus (Ullmark) understood. We need both goaltenders. One day at a time and we’ll go from there,” said Cassidy.

Swayman, the former University of Maine goalie, was clearly the better goaltender in camp.

“We obviously knew what he was capable from last year, but it’s a new year and you say ‘How did he spend his summer?’ Does he have the attitude of ‘Well, I’ve arrived now,’ or ‘Hey, I’m fighting for the net every night and I want to be good in practice?’ And it was obviously the latter. He’s a great kid that way,” said Cassidy.

Cassidy relayed a story from Friday’s practice that the coach thought said a little bit about Swayman’s makeup.

“He gets one right between the eyes,” said Cassidy. “He doesn’t even flinch. He’s up for the next shot and he just keeps going, whereas some guys might stop and pause, and rightfully so. So I mentioned something to him and he’s like ‘Well don’t pick that position if you can’t handle it.’ So I was like ‘All right then.’”

IN DESCRIBING MIKE Reilly’s game, Cassidy recalled a player he had in his first go-round as a head coach in Washington – Sergei Gonchar, who was also briefly a Bruin.

“(Gonchar) was a bit of a ghost. The puck comes out his own end, whether he’s part of it or not, it goes through the neutral zone, then all of a sudden it’s on his stick in the offensive zone in a good scoring position,” said Cassidy. “He was almost able to appear out of nowhere in a good shooting shot because he was smart and followed the play up. And I think Reilly has a bit of that. All of a sudden, it’s right there on his stick and he’s making something happen.”

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