The Boston Bruins went out and spent some serious money this summer. Signing defenseman Nikita Zadorov and center Elias Lindholm to multi-year deals cost the organization a whopping $84 million in total value. It also ate up a significant portion of their salary cap.
While the Bruins did leave themselves cap space to work with, the team finds themselves in a troubling situation. They still haven't come to terms with their restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Despite PuckPedia showing the team having a bit over $8 million in cap space remaining, the two sides seem far off in contract talks.
With preseason games being played and no Swayman in sight, the pressure is mounting and the Bruins should be very, very concerned. If they don't get Swayman under contract by the December 1st deadline, he will be ineligible to play and Boston's season will go down the drains with it.
The Bruins made it clear that Swayman was their guy this summer. They traded Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators to clear the way for Swayman, and brought in veteran Joonas Korpisalo to spell him.
Now it seems the Bruins will enter the regular season with Korpisalo as their workhorse, and all of that big summer spending could be for nothing. While extremely talented, Korpisalo thrives when he plays 25-30 games. Over usage is a real problem for the Swedish puck-stopper, as he struggled mightily in a starting role with the Ottawa Senators last season and with the Columbus Blue Jackets previously.
With heels dug in, progress is impossible. Both sides are unwilling to compromise at this point, and it feelsl like a waiting game until one side gives in. The result could be at the detriment of the Bruins' season. Because if this drags on into the regular season and Swayman misses significant time, Boston's chances of winning go down further and further with every passing game.
