It’s time for another round of NHL rumorus. We’re just over a week into training camp and a number of games have been played. A number of restricted free agents have signed deals are in camp after some touch-and-go moments. However, there’s one major RFA still remains unsigned. The season starts next week, so the clocked is ticking. Today’s NHL rumours deals with the latest update on the Boston Bruins and their young goalie.
All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.
NHL Rumours
Update on Unsigned Boston Bruins Goalie
Rumour: The Athletic and TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered an update on talks between the Bruins and RFA goalie Jeremy Swayman.
Analysis: Swayman remains without a contract as Boston has played a number of pre-season games already. The Bruins have been forced to scramble and play Joonas Korpisalo and Brandon Bussi in between the pipes.
LeBrun’s update stated that both sides want a long-term deal with him noting that Swayman is seeking eight years. However, the main sticking point seems to be the annual average cap hit for the Anchorage, Alaska native.
The average cap is a major bone of contention, but at least there’s some common ground in wanting a long-term contract. Things could be worse in these talks, but having some common ground is a good thing.
Race Against the Clock
Some good news is nice to hear, but there seems to be a deadline according to LeBrun. Boston has seemingly set an Oct. 8 deadline for getting the contract completed. This date is when the Bruins open the season against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney has until December 1 to sign Swayman to a new contract. However, one can understand Boston setting an internal deadline to get Swayman into the fold.
Sweeney has seemingly put himself in a bind by trading Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators before having Swayman’s deal completed. The Bruins need Swayman if the team has designs on being a contender in the Eastern Conference.
It All Ties Together
Boston fans aren’t the only people following the contract negotiations. New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury has to worry about signing Igor Shesterkin to a new deal sooner or later. The Russian netminder becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. However, Drury doesn’t want the Vezina Trophy winner to get out onto the open market. Drury will be seeing if Swayman’s deal will set the market.
Another executive likely following the Swayman talks is Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill. He has his own RFA goalie to sign in Jake Oettinger. We mentioned in a previous edition of NHL rumours that Nill is waiting to see how some deals shake out before trying to re-sign Oettinger. Both the Swayman and Shesterkin deals are going to give Nill an idea of what he needs to pay his star goalie in the off-season.
Bruins’ fans hope these talks are coming to the finish-line. There have been plenty of ups-and-downs during these talks and they just want the ride to be over. Hopefully it will be a long time before having to deal with this headache again.
