Is Brandon Carlo a member of the Boston Bruins at the moment? Yes, but it's complicated. He's a restricted free agent at the moment, but it appears as though the two sides should come to a deal after all. At least, that's what one legendary NHL broadcaster seems to think.
Jack Edwards, the voice of the Bruins broadcast on NESN, gave that impression in a recent interview with WEEI. Here is what he had to say about the free agent.
“I think Brandon’s going to be in camp within a week,” Edwards said. “That would be a conservative estimate, I think that’s going to get done. He’s a pretty reasonable guy and when young players see the potential as opposed to the reality, the reality’s not so bad to settle for. So I think that both Brandon and Charlie will see the light and know that they’re going to have a lot of good hockey in them beyond this contract.”
Well, that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? He is only 22 years old and is about to enter his fourth season with the team. Carlo is still getting better and provides the team with some depth on the defensive end of things -- which is much needed.
Carlo played a pretty big role for the Bruins during the postseason last season. He appeared in all 24 of the team's games and in them, he played an average of 21:31 per contest. In total, he finished with a plus-10 rating on the ice -- which is very respectable.
Here is another fact worth noting: if the restricted free agents don't sign by December 1, they are deemed ineligible to play in the 2019-2020 NHL season and surely, Carlo would not want that to happen as a young player. So yeah, make a deal already...