“It is getting late early,” to quote the great Yogi Berra to summarize the contract negotiations between Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins.
Things have worsened between the Bruins and their number-one goalie over the last 24 hours. A few weeks ago, there was so much optimism between the parties. Many thought a deal would be done at the start of training camp. However, that is not the case.
The Bruins held a press conference on Monday with President Cam Neely and General Manager Don Sweeney. Neely’s comment regarding Swayman’s contract negotiations shocked the hockey world.
“I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is,” Neely said, “but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.”
It is easy to do the math here and say the Bruins offered Jeremy Swayman an eight-year extension with an AAV of $8 million. That number would put him in the top tier of goaltenders in the NHL behind Ilya Sorokin and ahead of Juuse Saros.
However, Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, adamantly denied the claim that the Bruins had offered anything remotely close to what Neely said in a statement released Monday evening.
“Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media,” Gross said in a statement on Instagram. “However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client. At today’s press conference, $64 million was referenced. That was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level. “We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”
Swayman wants to be paid like one of the top guys. There is a belief that Swayman intends to reset the goalie market. However, if the Bruins offered Swayman $8 million, that would make him the sixth highest-paid goalie and fifth active highest-paid goalie behind Carey Price ($10.5 million AAV), Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million AAV), Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million AAV), Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5 million AAV), and Sorokin ($8.25 million AAV).
As Neely stated, “What his ask is, and what we believe his comp group is, are two different things.” But one thing remains clear: the two sides want to work on a long-term extension. They have agreed on that. There is also a belief that Swayman intends to stay with the Boston Bruins.
“I’ve asked (Jeremy Swayman) flat out if he wants to play here, and he does, Neely said. “I believe they’ll get a deal done. Unfortunately, it’s not done today.”
It is very rare to have two press conferences twelve days apart. Twelve days ago, Sweeney held a press conference at the start of training. There, he spoke about how he was disappointed he could not settle Swayman’s contract when the Bruins opened camp. Sweeney understood the player’s right to hold out until an agreement was agreed upon. He hopes to resolve it by December 1st, the last day Swayman can play this season.
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Sweeney told the media on Monday that he never begrudged a player for asking what he thinks his value is on the market.
“No, as Charlie mentioned, I would never begrudge a player asking for what he thinks is value,” Sweeney said. “I’m a little surprised that you might take a position that the Bruins haven’t been aggressive or aren’t willing to go max term, and some of those comments, like, at the end of the day, that is not how we’ve done business and don’t intend to do business. There’s a marketplace for every positional player, and we’re at the firmly amongst that grouping.”
This is similar to Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs’s statement over the past month. The Bruins spend to the cap and will continue to do so. So, it is not like the Bruins are unwilling to pay Swayman.
Head coach Jim Montgomery said on Monday that he was throwing a monkey wrench into this whole situation. He told reporters Joonas Korpisalo would be the Bruins’ opening-day starter, which was news to him.
Remember, the Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators for Joonas Korpisalo earlier in the summer. The Bruins have been criticized for trading Ullmark to Ottawa without resolving the Swayman situation. However, Sweeney does not regret trading Ullmark and losing leverage in the negotiation process. It was the best decision for the Bruins moving forward.
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Bruins have several options. One option is to trade Jeremy Swayman, which has become an option after his agent’s statement on Monday night. Although it does not seem likely, the Bruins could do so. Teams can speak with him as he is a free agent.
Another option is for a team to offer sheet Swayman still. Again, the parties did not go to arbitration this summer after last year’s events. Surprisingly, a team has not done this to put the Bruins up against the cap even further.
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period said on NHL Network Radio that the Bruins and Swayman could resolve this before the season starts next week on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. As Full Press Hockey has reported for most of the summer, the two sides could land an eight-year deal at $8.5 million on an AAV. All the Bruins have to do is move Brandon Bussi down, and there is the money to do that.
This is a major storyline entering the season. Everyone will be watching how the saga between Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins unfold.
