Cam Neely's declaration at Monday's press conference — "I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now" — spoke volumes.
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OK, the number is … $64 million.
We are led to believe today that’s the amount Jeremy Swayman has yet to accept from the Bruins for the 25-year-old goalie to step in as the franchise’s officially installed No. 1 stopper.
“I don’t want to get into the weeds as to what his ask is,” Bruins president Cam Neely said at Monday morning’s preseason press conference on Causeway Street. “But I know I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.”
First off, how delightful and utterly refreshing to hear Neely summon his hidden Harry Sinden. We haven’t had anyone in the Spoked-B front office be that blunt and quotable since Give ‘Em Hell Harry was on the watch as general manager.
For those too young to know, or too old to recall, Sinden in 1992 said he hoped then-prospect Joe Juneau “learned to yodel” when he was apprised of the winger’s hints that he would play in Switzerland rather than accept the Bruins’ offer.
A few days later, Juneau, just back from the French Alps, pulled on his freshly minted Bruins sweater after the ‘92 Olympics. Juneau earned a degree in aeronautical engineering at RPI while simultaneously learning to read and speak English. A very good, sharp guy, though he never learned to yodel.
A Globe reporter’s email sent to Swayman’s representative seeking comment amount Neely’s remark went unanswered. Swayman, who has said very little about negotiations publicly, has not been seen at the club’s training facility since camp opened nearly two weeks ago.
Extrapolating from Neely’s comment, and applying basic NHL CBA interpretive skills, we should assume the Bruins have offered their goalie $64 million over eight years — the maximum-length deal players are allowed to sign.
Asked if he believed reports that Swayman is trying to reset the market rates for NHL goalies, Neely said, “I do, yeah.
“What his ask is and what we think his comp is are two different things.”
Swayman is entitled to, and should, ask for the moon and more. That’s true of every athlete, every sport, no matter how outrageously high the numbers look to the vast majority of us who live our lives by the 37.5- or 40-hour work week. The sports industry at large is a play-dough world, right? We simply have to accept the numbers are crazy, and in the NHL, they actually can look somewhat modest when shouldered next to the vastly nuttier deals routinely handed out in the NFL, MLB, and NBA.
What could be in Swayman’s head — we are guessing here, folks — is
the deal signed by Charlie McAvoy in October 2021. He squeezed GM Don Sweeney et al for eight years at $9.5 million, in what was his third NHL contract. It was a big bump from the $4.9 million cap of his previous three-year deal.
Is a franchise goalie worth at least the same as a franchise defenseman, comparing them as they enter their third contracts?
There are many hairs to split in that discussion, particularly when specifically comparing McAvoy and Swayman, but as someone who has chronicled the league for roughly a half-century, I’d be inclined to say, you betcha, pay the would-be franchise goalie what you paid the would-be franchise defenseman three years ago.
In terms of what we think they are, or what they will be, both Swayman and McAvoy are works in progress, yet to fulfill their “franchise” billings. Based on what Neely said, it’s a fair leap of logic to think Swayman could feel about $1.5 million per annum shortchanged, when looking at McAvoy’s deal, if the standing offer is eight years times $8 million.
That’s $12 million left on the table across an eight-year term. As they’d say in Maine, where Swayman matriculated before enrolling here in Jacobs University, that’s a lot of maple syrup and lobstahs.
But, again, we’re all just guessing here, trying to connect the dots that already exist on the Bruins payroll.
Another guess is that the Bruins feel they can remain firm at $8 million per year because the clock will tick louder with each second as Dec. 1 draws closer. Per the CBA, if not signed by then, Swayman’s NHL season is finished. He can go play in Europe. Or learn to yodel.
At that point, Swayman would forfeit a year of peak earning power, at a price of what we are to believe is $8 million. An NFL quarterback may think that’s weekend party money, but most of the NHL’s rank-and-file would swallow hard at that number. Bruins captain Brad Marchand, for instance, is finishing out
a deal that carried a career-high $6.125 million cap hit. And he played to every bit of his billing — and beyond.
What’s different about today than any other day? Nothing, really, because Swayman remains out, free to enjoy early autumn’s splendid sun before the arrival of winter’s frozen sky.
But Neely giving up the figure of $64 million, after initially remarking that he is surprised at where things stand in negotiations, very well could have been his way of saying it’s time for Swayman to take it or leave it.
The season begins next Tuesday night, 53 days prior to Dec. 1, each second reverberating like a yodeler’s call echoing across the canyon.
