Details of Brandon Carlo's six-year contract extension with B's originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins' longest-tenured defenseman is in line to keep that title for the foreseeable future.
Brandon Carlo signed a six-year contract extension with the Bruins worth a total of $24.6 million, the team announced Wednesday. Carlo will carry a $4.1 million annual cap hit, making him the team's fifth-highest-paid player entering the 2021-22 season behind Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy.
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The 24-year-old was set to become a restricted free agent this offseason after playing out a two-year, $5.7 million contract with Boston. After veteran defenseman Kevan Miller retired Wednesday morning, the Bruins were wise to lock up a core blue liner in Carlo.
Related: How should Bruins use their cap space this summer?
Carlo played in just 27 games for the B's last season while dealing with multiple injuries, including a concussion caused by a Tom Wilson hit in early March. When healthy, though, he's Boston's second-best defenseman behind McAvoy who averaged 20 minutes of ice time per game over his first four seasons from 2016 to 2020.
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The Bruins now have six defensemen under contract for the 2021-22 season in McAvoy, Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk, Connor Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril. Grzelcyk is the oldest player of that group at age 27, so Boston may want to add a veteran presence this offseason to bolster its back end.