Bruins still looking to ‘bridge the gap’ on Swayman contract

BOSTON -- Seven days remain until the Boston Bruins play the Florida Panthers in their season opener Oct. 8. As of now, the starter in goal will not be Jeremy Swayman.

That’s because the Bruins and Swayman have yet to come to agreement on a contract for this season and beyond, with the goalie a restricted free agent who is not attending training camp.

Bruins president Cam Neely gave some insight into the process Monday.

"I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now," Neely said at TD Garden.

The $64-million number likely translates to an eight-year offer at $8 million per season, which would put Swayman behind four goalies in terms of annual salary: Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders.

Swayman played last season on a one-year, $3.475 million contract awarded to him by an independent arbitrator.

So, were they surprised at Swayman’s asking price?

"No," general manager Don Sweeney said. "I would never begrudge a player asking for what he thinks his value is."

"I was surprised," Neely interjected, with a laugh.

Sweeney said there is a market for every player and that he believes the Bruins firmly are within that group with their offer. Swayman has yet to be a full-time NHL starer and never has played more than 44 games in his four seasons in the League.

"I think overall Don's done a really good job of initial offers to players," Neely said. "One of the things we talked about when he got the job was, being a former player, I'm not a big fan of low-ball, high-ball, figure it out somewhere in the middle. It's like, OK, get the right comp, get the right comp, put the right offer on the table.

"I strongly believe that Jeremy wants to play here. I've asked him flat-out, do you want to play here, and he does. I believe that they'll get a deal done. It's unfortunate it's not done today."

Asked if he believed Swayman was trying to reset the goalie market, Neely said, "I do. Yeah, I do. Just what his ask is and what we believe his comp group is are two different things."

Later on Monday, Lewis Gross, who represents Swayman, responded in an Instagram post that the Bruins have not offered his client a $64 million contract.

"Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media," Gross wrote. "However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client. At today's press conference, $64 million was referenced. This 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."

In 132 games (125 starts) in the NHL, Swayman is 79-33-15 with a 2.34 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and 12 shutouts.

The past two seasons goaltending has been the clear strength of the Bruins, with the tandem of Swayman and Linus Ullmark in net. In 2022-23 they won the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goalies allowing the fewest goals in the NHL and Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy as the League's top goalie.

Swayman again split time with Ullmark last season, going 25-10-8 with a 2.53 GAA, a .916 save percentage and three shutouts in 44 games (43 starts), before taking over the position in the playoffs. He started 12 of Boston's 13 games, including the final 11 straight, and had a 2.15 GAA and .933 save percentage, getting the Bruins to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Panthers.

The Bruins traded Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in June, with the clear intention of handing the job to Swayman, even though a contract had yet to be signed.

"We made a decision to chart a course," Sweeney said. "Both goaltenders had asked to play 55 games. That’s not possible if you're playing on the same team. So, we decided to make a decision and we felt comfortable with Jeremy moving forward. We knew what the likelihood of the return was going to be, in terms of the discussions I'd had around the League on Linus.

"We made a very difficult decision because he had been an outstanding Bruin. … I don't regret that decision one bit."

It was going to be Swayman's net.

The top two goalies entering Bruins camp were Joonas Korpisalo, part of the return from the Senators in the Ullmark trade, and Brandon Bussi. Boston claimed Jiri Patera off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Patera was 1-3-1 with a 3.89 GAA and .893 save percentage in six games (five starts) with the Vegas Golden Knights last season.

"We're getting late enough into camp that it's unlikely that Jeremy would be in a position [for the start of the regular season], but today's a new day to continue to have the discussion and hopefully bridge the gap that would exist," Sweeney said.

Coach Jim Montgomery said, "I would piggyback on that, saying where we are in camp right now, how well camp has gone and how well Korpisalo has done, is right now he’s going to be our Game 1 starter."

But signing Swayman remains the priority.

"I have been in constant communication with Don and with Cam about the Jeremy Swayman contract negotiations," Bruins CEO and alternate governor Charlie Jacobs said. "I just want to be very clear, we're in a state of constant communication regarding Jeremy and our hope is he's on the ice as soon as possible."

Jacobs added, "I can’t speak for Jeremy. I can speak for ownership to say that we will spend to the cap and we have spent to the cap virtually every year."

The sides, though, remain at odds.

"Ultimately we're a better team, as I've said all along, if Jeremy is part of our hockey club," Sweeney said. "That's my intention, that's my push and I'll continue work to do that. I think Jeremy and the team are both hurt in this regard, and that's what I'll do, I'll try and work hard to find a settlement for him."