Player Discussion Jeremy Swayman: VII- Swayman's agent basically calls Cam a liar

[smithformeragent]

@Gee Wally

We have numerous deletions and more in here. We know tension and emotions are high.
But you folks must simply stop taking personal shots at each. Stay to topic.

If not we will be left with no choice other than adding thread bans.

BOSTON — Boston Bruins president Cam Neely suggested Monday that the team has made an eight-year offer to unsigned restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman at $8 million annually.

“I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is,” Neely said at a news conference at TD Garden. “But I know that I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.”

Neely did not disclose what Swayman’s ask has been but said he was surprised by it.

So far, Swayman is holding firm to his demand. It aligns with his personality of not backing down, especially following his uncomfortable 2023 arbitration hearing. According to Neely, Swayman wants to set a new market for goalies, specifically ones under team control.

“What his ask is and what we believe his comp group is,” Neely said, “are two different things.”

General manager Don Sweeney said he remains in contact with Lewis Gross, Swayman’s agent. The Bruins are not interested in trading Swayman.

“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 wish. I’ll continue to work to do that. I think Jeremy and the team are both hurt in this regard. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll continue to work hard to find a settling point.”

With only three preseason games left, it is likely Swayman will miss regular-season time, even if an agreement is pending. Coach Jim Montgomery designated Joonas Korpisalo as his goalie for the regular-season opener against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 8, regardless of Swayman’s situation. The Bruins have two full practices remaining in camp.

“Where we are in camp right now, with how well camp has gone and how well Korpisalo has done,” Montgomery said, “right now, he’s going to be our Game 1 starter.”

How good is the offer?​

Swayman would become the fifth-highest-paid goalie in the NHL under the Bruins’ offer, behind Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck and Ilya Sorokin. Only Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million average annual value) signed his contract as a pending restricted free agent. The others were due to become unrestricted.

It is a significant payday for Swayman, considering he has never been a regular-season No. 1 goalie.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5806291/2024/09/30/bruins-cam-neely-jeremy-swayman/

Click to read more...

 

[NDiesel]

Florida won the Cup with Bob making $10M.

He was also an anchor for them in many seasons.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

What was the lowball offer?

The arb offer and the $6.5M\8.

 

[NDiesel]

The arb offer and the $6.5M\8.

I wish someone would lowball me 6.5 mil a year

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Sits for the year is actually impossible. Nobody should vote for it.

If Sway were to actually do that, he is the dumbest athlete in the NHL. And he'd deserve every bit of misery coming.

You fire your agent on the eve of Dec 1, and you sign.

How many clients have fired Gross?

 

[SwayHeyKid]

How stupid do you have to be to deliberately antagonize your important assets?
You have to sit on your brains to operate like that.

Yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Boston Bruins.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Going from the best goaltending duo in the league to the worst. Hell, with so many suggesting we simply sit Swayman for the year, we’re not even entertaining the assets acquired in a trade - however limited those may be.

Principle over team success. Need to make a point over winning games. Maybe folks are too young to remember the Steve Shields days and the purgatory that ensued with crossed fingers manning our nets? Dunno. I’m not in that camp.

Neither Am I but the cap and players have limitations. Does that cap hit make the Bruins a cup contending for the next 8 years if that's his ask?

Answer is nobody knows but Im willing to bet the real answer will be no. Never bet on a goalie being nothing better than good to average over an Eight year period.

 

[Sevendust]

Going from the best goaltending duo in the league to the worst. Hell, with so many suggesting we simply sit Swayman for the year, we’re not even entertaining the assets acquired in a trade - however limited those may be.

Principle over team success. Need to make a point over winning games. Maybe folks are too young to remember the Steve Shields days and the purgatory that ensued with crossed fingers manning our nets? Dunno. I’m not in that camp.

I really don't get it. It's like everybody are losing their minds Swayman is a better goalie than any goalie the Bruins have a chance to get. Pay the man, kick his ass for the holdup and then focus to the future with goal to win the Cup. Losing Swayman will worsen the chance to win one.

 

[LSCII]

How do you know it is actually false, media say all kinds of things as that is their job.
Right now as far as I am concerned let him sit.

Like I pointed out earlier a lot of folks here were giving the Bruins front office a lot of credit for taking the higher road and not negotiating thru the media. Those same people changed course mid argument when the president of the team started negotiating thru the media. So which is it? Is Gross a scumbag for using the media? If so, that makes Cam a scumbag too, no?

 

[bruins cup]

They have 8.5 left and the moment they play game 1 even if he signs for 8 mil cap hit is less land less with every game missed $750 k is the league min Johnson is in their plans at that route

 

[NDiesel]

Like I pointed out earlier a lot of folks here were giving the Bruins front office a lot of credit for taking the higher road and not negotiating thru the media. Those same people changed course mid argument when the president of the team started negotiating thru the media. So which is it? Is Gross a scumbag for using the media? If so, that makes Cam a scumbag too, no?

No space for nice guys in negotiations

 

[BMC]

Like I said, I think they loved him at a certain value, liked him at a little more than that, and are fine moving on from him once he crosses a threshold they don't want to pay. Nothing more, nothing less. Just business. And on the flip side. I think Sway is viewing it the same.


Then Donnie Harvard is even dumber than I thought, letting his personal feelings get in the way of what's best for the team.

Personal feelings? Or just knowing that negotiating with Gross is a difficult process and he (Sweeney) needed a Plan B in case negotiations went to hell? Sweeney has to ice a complete team whether Swayman is around or not. He'd be guilty of negligence if he didn't have an NHL level goalie ready to step in.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

He was also an anchor for them in many seasons.

How so? The past three years he has won the Presidents Trophy (around here that means a heck of alot), goaltended his team to a finals and did it again but won this time.

 

[LSCII]

I wish someone would lowball me 6.5 mil a year

Sure you can say that as a regular person not making that kind of dough, but if you had the chance to make $8.5 and someone offered you that, you’d be insulted

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Neither Am I but the cap and players have limitations. Does that cap hit make the Bruins a cup contending for the next 8 years if that's his ask?

Answer is nobody knows but Im willing to bet the real answer will be no. Never bet on a goalie being nothing better than good to average over an Eight year period.

That cap hit isn’t the only consideration in whether or not the Bruins are Cup contenders.

Going with Korpisalo and Bussi (or Patera now I guess) however? That ensures you won’t be sniffing a Cup.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

No space for nice guys in negotiations

It's more like the rules change when the Bruins do it.

 

[PB37]

they came in at 2mil to purposely lower the number he would get. Lower than Daniel Vladar lol.

But go ahead and say it's business.....sure is...just like Swayman is doing now.

Sure, and now Swayman is pricing himself out of starting the season on time and potentially the season by being unreasonable. He'll learn pretty quickly what it's like when he wants to do business for himself to the point where nobody wants to do business with him.

 

[Pia8988]

An elite goalie doesn't guarantee a cup. Nothing does. But it guarantees you're a contender.

A bad goalie means you're in the lottery, period

 

[SwayHeyKid]

That cap hit isn’t the only consideration in whether or not the Bruins are Cup contenders.

Going with Korpisalo and Bussi (or Patera now I guess) however? That ensures you won’t be sniffing a Cup.

At least the excuse will be Swayman,. Generally it's phantom injuries or whatever but now there is a true villian!

 

[BiteThisBurrows]

Liar liar pants on fire.........and if that's the way he wants his agent to deal with this it's saying to me that being a Bruin isn't as important to him as he claimed it was. In fact, he might have been bitter from arbitration and he lied from the outset to the Bruins (which is why they believed him and traded Ullmark). So ultimately it's all bs and none of it matters.

Swayman had a simple choice here. With Neely putting the 64 million number out there Swayman could easily have just said, 64 million? Get me a pen, I'm there tomorrow. But he chose to let his agent make this ugly so I don't think he ever really cared about being a Bruin or not. 64 million is a generous overpay and if he doesn't want it, end this now. Goodbye Jeremy, enjoy being a Duck (or whatever)

Trade him for a top 6 winger.

 

[PB37]

The arb offer and the $6.5M\8.

Last report has them at around 64 mill for 8 years. That's not lowball.

 

[Bodit9]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841553667486585014

Is the writing on the wall for Swayman?

 

[NDiesel]

Sure you can say that as a regular person not making that kind of dough, but if you had the chance to make $8.5 and someone offered you that, you’d be insulted

Nah that's literally just how negotiations go man.

I fully expect a boss to start lower than im worth and I would 100% start higher than I think I'm worth too. I wouldn't expect to be called greedy, just like I wouldn't consider it a slap in the face either. That's business right

 

[lopey]

I didn't say all along. They would have happily kept him had he taken their low ball offer. When it became clear he was treating it as business, they clearly hit a point where they realized he was looking for fair market value, so plan b and Korpi kicked in.

I don't see him coming back after this.


I'd recommend avoiding all mirrors then...






Sorry, it was too hard to pass up....LOL

Ok bye sway nice knowing you

 

[NDiesel]

How so? The past three years he has won the Presidents Trophy (around here that means a heck of alot), goaltended his team to a finals and did it again but won this time.

Because his stats have been below average in 3 of his 5 seasons there. Not what you want to get from 10 mil. Big reason teams don't spend big on goalies is because season to season it's tough to stay on top, Bob is a prime example.

 

[Fingertools]

That's one way to look at it. The other angle is considering 8 years of security -- meaning that if you get injured or start to tail off you still get paid.

People are fixated on the idea that nothing every goes wrong and prices and values always go up -- every single year.

You guarantee me that Swayman can handled 55+ games plus deep playoff runs and guarantee me that his talent/ability/or injury status will not fall off over the next 8 years and I'll pay you $9M per.

But of course you cannot guarantee me one single thing on that list: workload capability/ talent stays or even improves/results and ability remain in top 5 goalie plus territory/no impactful injuries.

That's not your fault -- but you still can't guarantee it. And yet I'm supposed to guarantee it for you by paying you like nothing can go wrong over an 8 year period and you "might" be as good in a full starter role as you tell me???????????????

Can you guarantee that if he eclipses Shersterkin's performance who signed for much higher than $9M that you'll then readjust his salary in a few years? Or it's ok if he does better but not worse? It's a risk both ways and that's the conundrum.