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...

 

[UncleRico]

What time is neelys press conference today?

 

[JCRO]

Actively clearing my calendar to make sure I can tune into the bloodbath at 2pm today

 

[smithformeragent]

What time is neelys press conference today?

@Fenway says he's appearing on Felger and Mazz.

If so, this could be up there w/ John Henry showing up in terms of all-timers.

 

[Lobster57]

If he's worth 9 million there would have been a
Offer sheet for him or a realistic trade-offer
Nobody is going to pay him the bruins could be real stiff about it and pay him the league minimum for the next 2 years and make him sit out if he doesn't sign it he has no leverage

for an offer sheet, the question other teams have to ask isn't just "is he a goalie worth $9m?" It's "is he a goalie worth $9m AND a bunch of draft picks AND opening up my team for retaliatory offer sheets?"

 

[Number8]

What was wrong with the post below? Speculation and opinion are the roots of a message board no?

Was the 64 mil true? Mentioning it out of frustration is amateur hour. Clown shoes. I said Gross is a drama queen as well if they were offered 60mil and making it seem like a crime vs humanity. I know it's rare thinking around here but the Bruins can be idiots at times, along with the agent. Sweeney I'm sure is livid.

If Gross wants 80 and the Bruins don't want to do it deal him. No problems with them doing that even if I believe it's short sighted. Probably would have been helpful for them to know this before dealing Ullmark even though Sweeney is foolishly telling people these two things are not related.

Swayman is not signing 8 per if that's not what he wants. He will more than likely try to be dealt IMO.

You ask if the $64 mil is true. You don't know.
You assume it was mentioned out of frustration but know nothing (like me) about the situation.
You say "if there were offered 60mil" but you don't know.
You say you are sure Sweeney is livid. You don't know.
If Gross wants 80. You don't know.
You say Swayman is not signing 8 per if that's not what he wants. You don't know.
You say he will more than liked try to be dealt IMO. You don't know.

No we are all speculating and the above makes you no different than anyone else. That's fine -- and I have no issue with that.

But spare us the Gross would not lie and Neely is amateur hour and clown shoes bit.

Show at least a trace of objectivity.

 

[BruinsFanMike82]

I haven’t seen this seravelli report anywhere yet

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841130430172385311

 

[TD Charlie]

@Fenway says he's appearing on Felger and Mazz.

If so, this could be up there w/ John Henry showing up in terms of all-timers.

I think this will play much differently though. Felger and Mazz may not always respect the Bruins decision making, but they also strike me as the type that believe 4 years at 6.5 is reasonable. They may very well be on Neelys side heading into the interview.

Yet, they’d be best served playing to both sides with how they ask the questions

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

This means that Frank Seravalli is saying all this acrimony and drama is over $680K per annum ($500K per annum if you use the now public $64Million)?

I find that hard to believe. Really hard to believe.

Yeah, there's no f***ing way in hell that prior to yesterday they were only that far apart.

*BUT*, that's not to say that's not where they are at right now. Everyone should understand that these new offers and asks can come at any minute and what's in the news now from a few hours ago is not where they're currently at.

If the Swayman camp is down to 8 yr/68 million per Seravalli, I think that's great news. Gives me a lot of hope that a deal can be done now. I believe they were sticking at 8yr/76 million for a long time, and the Bruins finally got them to budge yesterday (even though Neely may have flubbed the delivery a bit). Whether it was 62 or 64 million, the Bruins looked a lot more favorable in the public/media opinion than Swayman does still sticking to a $9.5M/yr ask. He had to move down, there was no choice.

I think this gets done around 8yr x $8.25M now.

 

[HuskyBruinPride]

I am generally anti Sweeney and management. In this, especially as time has passed and especially yesterday, firmly on their side.

Swayman needs to decide himself and soon. Not the agent. Himself.

Same here. I'm usually fairly critical of Neely and Sweeney (I've rocked the fire Sweeney avatar from time to time lol), but in this case I'm firmly on their side. It's just totally unprecedented for them to go public with an exact figure on contract negotiations, it's so out of character. Only reason I see that coming to be is if they're overly frustrated with the way the agent is handling negotiations and feel their side isn't negotiating in good faith. Just can't fathom Neely throwing that number out if it wasn't put out there at least verbally and turned down.

 

[Number8]

I love your commentary Number8 but SwayHeyKid can say whatever he wants . Ignore him if it bothers you.

That's fair enough.

By the way, I would be a shitty negotiator in this sort of situation. Would have already told one of the parties to pound salt.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

You ask if the $64 mil is true. You don't know.
You assume it was mentioned out of frustration but know nothing (like me) about the situation.
You say "if there were offered 60mil" but you don't know.
You say you are sure Sweeney is livid. You don't know.
If Gross wants 80. You don't know.
You say Swayman is not signing 8 per if that's not what he wants. You don't know.
You say he will more than liked try to be dealt IMO. You don't know.

No we are all speculating and the above makes you no different than anyone else. That's fine -- and I have no issue with that.

But spare us the Gross would not lie and Neely is amateur hour and clown shoes bit.

Show at least a trace of objectivity.

So all of that it comes down to Gross wouldn't lie vs Neely would? He's a complete drama queen if they offered 60-62 and did that whole media release for 2-4 million dollars. As for Neely the last time the organization looked bad with something he lied, so he could def do it again,

 

[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.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

At this point I'm thinking if they don't sign by opening night, fine. Sit. Sit some more after Dec. 1 too if need be. Don't trade him.

I'm ready to see what the Bruins have without Swayman this season. Hell, the odds of them winning the Cup even with him are not great. They'll have plenty of cap room. Maybe acquire another goalie.

Back against the wall Bruins are always better than high expectation Bruins.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

Neely really hurt you, eh?

Favorite player as a kid. Had his jersey and prob a 100 different cards of him. Love his work with the Ronald McDonald House. Neely at that press conference was amateur hour and clown shoes, don't know what to say, and around the hockey world it is being met the same way, except Bruins fans and that's fine, whatever floats your boat.

 

[JOKER 192]

The agent said they never offered that. Multiple reports are confirming that to be true. So while I’m not privy to the actual negotiation it sure doesn’t sound like it’s been formally offered other than cam claiming it. Secondly, and far more importantly, he can’t sign a verbal claim. There are terms. There are clauses. That all needs to be agreed on as part of the deal. Having an exec claim they met a players demand isn’t nearly the done deal you make it out to be. It’s also not an actual offer.

Oh, the agent said. Like he's never lied before.

 

[Grimey]

Favorite player as a kid. Had his jersey and prob a 100 different cards of him. Love his work with the Ronald McDonald House. Neely at that press conference was amateur hour and clown shoes, don't know what to say, and around the hockey world it is being met the same way, except Bruins fans and that's fine, whatever floats your boat.

Fair enough

 

[Bodit9]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841130430172385311

The actual offer is $64M per Cam.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

At this point I'm thinking if they don't sign by opening night, fine. Sit. Sit some more after Dec. 1 too if need be.

I'm ready to see what the Bruins have without Swayman this season. Hell, the odds of them winning the Cup even with him are not great. They'll have plenty of cap room. Maybe acquire another goalie.

Back against the wall Bruins are always better than high expectation Bruins.

After Dec 1 Swayman will have no choice but to sit. For the rest of the season.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Never happened

Ok, well lets go with he cant ruin the goalie market. God forbid another unproven goalie is in his predicament in the future.

better?

 

[Dr Hook]

At this point I'm thinking if they don't sign by opening night, fine. Sit. Sit some more after Dec. 1 too if need be.

I'm ready to see what the Bruins have without Swayman this season. Hell, the odds of them winning the Cup even with him are not great. They'll have plenty of cap room. Maybe acquire another goalie.

Back against the wall Bruins are always better than high expectation Bruins.

I like all this except I think their chances for a cup, Swayman or no Swayman, are pretty decent. We have a good team this year. I've always preferred that they signed Swayman and went forward, but now I don't care. I am going to support my team regardless of who is in net.

 

[TD Charlie]

Ok, well lets go with he cant ruin the goalie market. God forbid another unproven goalie is in his predicament in the future.

better?

Yes, actually

 

[LSCII]

If he's worth 9 million there would have been a
Offer sheet for him or a realistic trade-offer
Nobody is going to pay him the bruins could be real stiff about it and pay him the league minimum for the next 2 years and make him sit out if he doesn't sign it he has no leverage

Go look at the league history of offer sheets and tell me how many at that top level of compensation have happened and get back to me.

Teams don't use offer sheets for RFAs most of the time because it's easier to work a trade and sign the player rather than pay that steep of a price that goes along with the offer sheet.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841130430172385311

Honestly if that is Swayman's opening number he could not have expected to get it whether he deserved it or not. That's some poor negotiating. Bruins came up 1.3 million you would think coming down 700k isn't that big of a deal, but it does add up to over 5 million for the deals duration.

 

[GoBs]

The only person saying they did is Neely. Sweeney has not confirmed it at all. The agent said no. Now there are at least 4 reports saying it was $62-62.5 offered, which isn’t 64.

Time will tell who was full of shit, but at the moment, it sure looks like it’s Cam.

Maybe the 62 or 62.5 is taking into account 5% income tax and the 4% Millionaires Tax

It’s just a joke this thread and I don’t like to say it is heading for the leafs board territory

 

[JAD]

leaks are coming from the agent, so anything the media is reporting is from Gross' mouth not the teams.

Doesn't matter ...there is currently a public verbal 64 mil offer on the table ... until accepted or pulled.