It’s been a stressful time for everyone surrounding the Boston Bruins when it comes to the Jeremy Swayman contract negotiations. Most people expected a new contract to be announced for the restricted free agent (RFA) goaltender but with only one preseason game remaining, Swayman is still left without a contract. Barring a miracle, will be absent from Boston’s opening game against the Florida Panthers. With recent events surrounding press conferences and agent statements along with tons of media input, the discourse around Swayman has shifted from good to bad, and that is a mistake for Bruins fans.
Summary of Events So Far
A lot has transpired over the offseason on the Swayman front, so this is a quick recap of events so far (as of October 4th, 2pm EST):
June 30, 2024 – The Bruins offered Swayman a qualifying offer, securing the team will retain his RFA rights.
July 5/6, 2024 – Both the Bruins and Swayman chose not to elect to file for salary arbitration. Swayman openly discussed his dislike for the arbitration process last offseason and made it clear he did not want to partake in that again.
Sept. 30th, 2024 – During a press conference with Boston CEO Charlie Jacobs, president Cam Neely, general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Jim Montgomery, Neely hinted at a $64 million contract offer to Swayman that was declined, saying “I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now”.
Sept. 30, 2024 – Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, makes a post on Instagram claiming the $64 million offer was never officially offered to the Swayman camp, therefore making the assumption that Neely was not being truthful during the conference. Gross also stated that he would take a “few days to discuss”.
Sept. 30, 2024 – Elliotte Friedman states in a Sportsnet article that Swayman is considering formally asking for a trade amid the speculation that he was going to following the earlier news in the day.
Public Perception Shifts Drastically
Swayman has been a beloved member of the Bruins for the last few years, largely due to the goalie hug with now-former teammate, Linus Ullmark. When Ullmark was moved to Ottawa, Swayman became the true number-one goaltender in Boston and many fans anticipated him signing a long-term deal and happily playing in the Spoked-B for years to come.
As the summer carried on and no signing was being announced, the blame started to be placed on the Bruins management for failing to lock up their franchise netminder. Panic began setting in and worries that Sweeney and company were going to drop the ball and ruin what was a successful offseason to that point. In the timespan of late August and early September, reports came out that were later confirmed by Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts that the Bruins offered Swayman a four-year deal worth $6.2 million annually. Friedman also reported, “at some point there was an 8 year deal on the table (from Boston) but it was in the sixes”. Additionally, it was reported that the Swayman camp was seeking around the $9.5-$10 million range. This only confirmed the previous belief that Sweeney was offering an insultingly-low offer compared to what Swayman wanted and it was creating a divide between the two sides.
On the 32 Thoughts podcast, it was reported that the $9.5 million number Swayman was reportedly originally asking for has dropped — down to seemingly no lower than the high-$8 million range — and Swayman would not accept, at least at this time, an 8-year deal worth $8 million annually. Boston did, however, offer numerous deals that increased in salary, showing that Boston was willing to bridge the gap a bit more in order to work a deal out, but it seems the Swayman camp was not sharing the same sentiment. This is where the public perception changed.
Now, many Bruins fans are taking the side of Boston management, choosing to say Swayman is being too greedy given his lack of experience, especially as a starting goaltender.
Anger Towards Swayman Is Directed at the Wrong Place
Being upset that a contract negotiation is taking longer than usual is completely expected and even more so when the situation has been as messy as it has been with Swayman. However, this has happened before with high-profile RFAs, including Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander. Swayman has been a very elite goaltender, albeit in a short time, and deserves to try and get the most amount of money to better himself. In his last three seasons in the NHL, he has played just over 120 games, boasting these impressive numbers with the league ranking (min. 120GP):
Franchises dream of having a 25-year-old goaltender who has repeatedly expressed his desire to sign long-term with their team. Goalies like Swayman do not come and go often and if you have a chance to lock one up for eight years, even if it’s at a slightly higher asking price, you jump at the bait and sign it. Swayman is coming off one of his best seasons thus far and had a remarkable playoff run to cap it off; he entered contract negotiations with his prime right around the corner. Asking for more than what the market value has been over the last few years is completely justifiable and does not make him the villain.
Circling back to Friedman’s piece on Swayman, he referenced a quote from St. Louis Blues legend, Al MacInnis, saying the defenseman would always ask during the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup run, “How is this going to go over in the room?” He went on to say that players in the locker room will be supportive of Swayman as every player has to go though some type of contract signings in their career, but the locker room also knows they are a much stronger team with Swayman as their goaltender. Friedman says the conversations go from, ‘“We’re with you,” to “Come on, get in here, we need you.”’.
As this situation becomes more and more heated with less progress and more media backlash, a lot of individuals become blinded by frustration and forget the goalie’s true importance to the team. The Boston Bruins can be a Stanley Cup contender this season with Swayman at the helm. Without him, they may struggle to make the playoffs at all.
If the Bruins were to dive into the trade market to get assets for the Alaskan netminder like many are now suggesting, they will more than likely come out as losers in the deal. Either trading for an NHL-caliber goaltender plus additional roster players to continue the push for the Cup or trying to recoup future assets such as draft picks and prospects to fill a shallow prospect pool will make the Bruins worse off right now than if they slightly overpay for Swayman. David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are in the midst of their prime playing years and the Bruins cannot waste a single year not competing to their best ability. Moving a top-10goaltender would be doing just that.
Swayman Is Simply Defending His Best Interests
Swayman claims he wants to be a Bruin for a long-time. He also knows this might be one of his last chances to get a big payday he feels he deserves. Of course, the stress levels would ease a lot more if he just signed the dotted line at whatever price the Bruins’ management asked, but he is prioritizing himself and standing his ground, something he was unable to do during last year’s arbitration hearings. That should not be criticized, but rather respected.
