"We're going to hopefully get Charlie McAvoy done here shortly. … [general manager] Don [Sweeney] and [assistant GM] Evan [Gold] have been working with Charlie's camp the last couple of days," Neely said. "So my hopes are we'll see something here in short order, but you never know until it's signed on the dotted line."
The 23-year-old defenseman can be a restricted free agent at the end of this season. He signed a three-year, $14.7 million contract with the Bruins on Sept. 15, 2019.
Sweeney, though, said he was less definitive on McAvoy's contract talks.
"There's nothing imminent," he said. "But we're hopeful. We continue to talk periodically with different players and the timing will present itself. We would dearly like to have Charlie as part of the organization for a long period of time. Hopefully it's mutual, and that's generally when deals come together.
"We value him, both as a player and as a person. He's growing into a leadership role. He's been included in that leadership group and hopefully that's an indication that Charlie's growing into the person, both as a leader and as a player, that we hoped he would be."
McAvoy watched this offseason when several comparable NHL defensemen signed contracts, including Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars (eight years, $67.6 million), Seth Jones of the Chicago Blackhawks (eight years, $76 million), Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche (six years, $54 million), Dougie Hamilton of the New Jersey Devils (seven years, $63 million) and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets (six years, $57.5 million).
"Just playing hockey, that's it," McAvoy said Sept. 25. "Obviously all those D-men, I'm very happy for them. I know quite a few of them, couldn't be happier for them. They're all very well deserved. But for me, just excited about this year, excited about the group we have."
