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...

 

[sarge88]

Imagine being so delusional as a fan that you expect a top tier goalie in the league to sign a hometown discount deal in the $6s range when the team is paying a bottom of the roster defenseman $5 mill per?

Now imagine being the GM and thinking that wouldn’t get laughed at and rejected immediately, especially after you already traded the other goalie from last year?

Now imagine being the player who was told after last years arbitration hearing that it wasn’t personal and just business, only to see the team president doing a character assassination on you during his presser, while saying they offered you something they never did, which feels really personal?

To me this screams that the team simply wanted to move him all along, which is why they took back Korpisalo in the Ullmark trade. And Cam’s performance art at the presser was designed to gain support for the move by painting the player to be a malcontent.

And guess what? It’s working . The management ball washers have all fallen in line and taken the bait. Swayman bad. Cam and Don good. LOFL

Third option --- Cam and Don messed this up --- as much as Swayman and his agent did.

Time for both sides to look in the mirror and realize a few things....

Bruins need Swayman
Swayman's reputation is, deservedly taking a hit
60, 62, 64 or 66 million is a very good number -- get it done

 

[CheerstoBeers]

8 x 8 is more than fair.

Swayman's goalie brethren for whom he claims he's is fighting the good fight might be very happy with him. But my back of the envelope take on things is that Bruins fans appear to be rapidly losing patience and starting to not give a shit whether he signs or not. And that is a big swing from a week or so ago.

Fun math fact for Swayman.

8x9 (presumably what he wants) = $72M
8x8 (what Boston has put out there) - $64M

Difference? $8M. Exactly the same amount he'll lose (based on B's $64M number) if December 1 comes and goes without him signing.

And if he thinks a 25 year old goalie without a huge workload history can sit out a year and then come back and demand big dollars (from Bruins no less) he might be disappointed.

His business courses aren't serving him quite as well as he thinks they are.

Hard not to think 8x8 is the Bruins ceiling given the presser. My thought is give him an olive branch, offer him 8 x 8.25 and let him look like he didn't exactly cave and save some face, everyone is happy and put this behind them quickly.

 

[SonnyBoy]

But yet they would turn to him in the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Imagine that.

And how many PO series they have won with him?

 

[DavidK]

“Yeah, after dealing with what I did this summer with arbitration, hearing things that a player should never hear, it feels pretty special to be in this situation,” Swayman said after Boston’s overtime win over the Blues on Saturday night.

I hope management has learned their lesson.

 

[Guelph Bruin]

Sigh...... all this hate hurts

 

[NDiesel]

Imagine being so delusional as a fan that you expect a top tier goalie in the league to sign a hometown discount deal in the $6s range when the team is paying a bottom of the roster defenseman $5 mill per?

Now imagine being the GM and thinking that wouldn’t get laughed at and rejected immediately, especially after you already traded the other goalie from last year?

Now imagine being the player who was told after last years arbitration hearing that it wasn’t personal and just business, only to see the team president doing a character assassination on you during his presser, while saying they offered you something they never did, which feels really personal?

To me this screams that the team simply wanted to move him all along, which is why they took back Korpisalo in the Ullmark trade. And Cam’s performance art at the presser was designed to gain support for the move by painting the player to be a malcontent.

And guess what? It’s working . The management ball washers have all fallen in line and taken the bait. Swayman bad. Cam and Don good. LOFL

This makes no sense whatsoever. They wanted to trade Swayman all along so they trade the in house replacement (Ullmark) and downgrade to Korpi only to then try to trade Swayman in a separate trade? Why on earth would a team like the Sens not just trade for Sway then instead of Ullmark? And why wouldn't they have just kept Ullmark and gotten a better return for Sway?

Also what was the character assassination here, I didn't listen to the presser...surely you aren't calling the $64 million reason comment an assassination of character right?

 

[SwayHeyKid]

And how many PO series they have won with him?

One. Last season. AS a 7 seed Linus shit the bed in games 1-2 then Swayman went 3-2 vs a 2 seed. Played very well. Almost saved the greatest season in the history of hockey coming in cold to play a game 7 he was about to win until the unfortunate Mac tip. Last year, in a much ballyhooed "retool" year had a series for the ages with zero O support and decent not great series vs the much better Florida Panthers.

 

[bruinsfan1968]

so it's worth not competing for a cup this season?


yeah considering the other two were 4 and 6 years ago, but maybe you aren't familiar with inflation and how salaries rise?

Your boy doesn't seem to be too interested in winning a Stanley Cup, either wise he would be signed and ready to play. But NO! They are chasing the money!
The Bruins is to win the Cup with or without Swayman, so it's up to him and his agent to decide what they want more!

 

[xStanleyCupsFor]

Wild stuff from this kid.

If this is accurate, Iet him sit for a year and take more business classes

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Hard not to think 8x8 is the Bruins ceiling given the presser. My thought is give him an olive branch, offer him 8 x 8.25 and let him look like he didn't exactly cave and save some face, everyone is happy and put this behind them quickly.

How many olive branches do they need to give up, If we believe the reports the Bruins have made dramatic upward movement in their offers, which Sway has seemed to stay rather fixed. And if he turns down 8.25 do they need an olive branch at 8.5?

Swayman is going to lose 600+ K on October 15, and then moving forward. So each paycheck he would miss is basically the equivalent of losing 80K per year on the long term deal

 

[The Murph]

Imagine being so delusional as a fan that you expect a top tier goalie in the league to sign a hometown discount deal in the $6s range when the team is paying a bottom of the roster defenseman $5 mill per?

Now imagine being the GM and thinking that wouldn’t get laughed at and rejected immediately, especially after you already traded the other goalie from last year?

Now imagine being the player who was told after last years arbitration hearing that it wasn’t personal and just business, only to see the team president doing a character assassination on you during his presser, while saying they offered you something they never did, which feels really personal?

To me this screams that the team simply wanted to move him all along, which is why they took back Korpisalo in the Ullmark trade. And Cam’s performance art at the presser was designed to gain support for the move by painting the player to be a malcontent.

And guess what? It’s working . The management ball washers have all fallen in line and taken the bait. Swayman bad. Cam and Don good. LOFL

Damn. I know you're just scratching a constant itch, but this one worked.

Been lurking for a long time since last season and reading away, although this one has me breaking back into posting.

This is pure hate, like you know exactly what the situation was, is, and will be in the future, and management is 100% the problem.

There's just no discussion for anyone.

Even with the a little details been thrown out there with Cam and Gross, there is still very little details involved for anyone to be so certain.

You're as biased against management as I've read around here with this one.

 

[DavidK]

At the end of the day, Swayman is a top 5 goalie who projects to improve further. The top 5 centers in the game all make over 8 million; why shouldn't Swayman? Is Swayman's position less important? Jeremy is right to want to reset the goalie market.

 

[xStanleyCupsFor]

Don't continue to bid against yourself.

I let him sit.

It's ridiculous. The Bruins have come up half way or more, and then the other side is going to say ok, maybe we can meet in the middle now? GTF outta here

 

[KrejciMVP]

Brodeur played 70 plus games a season right. Sway wants money likes he's Brodeur but cmon, it's a far fetched reality. He lives in his own world

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

At the end of the day, Swayman is a top 5 goalie who projects to improve further. The top 5 centers in the game all make over 8 million; why shouldn't Swayman? Is Swayman's position less important? Jeremy is right to want to reset the goalie market.

The top 5 centers in the game all make over $11 million. Why shouldn't Swayman?

 

[KrejciMVP]

The top 5 centers in the game all make over $11 million. Why shouldn't Swayman?

Bc he's never been at the level of a top 5 center. He had a good round vs toronto. Halak looked good for a few rounds too once

 

[TD Charlie]

Hard not to think 8x8 is the Bruins ceiling given the presser. My thought is give him an olive branch, offer him 8 x 8.25 and let him look like he didn't exactly cave and save some face, everyone is happy and put this behind them quickly.

We don't know much, but 8x8 sounds to me like it may be their olive branch. I'd be fine if they weren't willing to get to 8.5 at this point. I would be ok with it (8.5), reluctantly, but if they decide to stay firm at 8 flat then I understand

 

[Pia8988]

I say let him sit out the season and see if you can trade him next summer. I don't want him back.

The Bruins could do a lot with $9m in cap space. They could trade with teams and not have to send money back, that significantly lowers the acquisition price on players.

Legit the worst option. Tank his trade value, and ruin your season

 

[TD Charlie]

The top 5 centers in the game all make over $11 million. Why shouldn't Swayman?

For one, he doesn't play center.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

For one, he doesn't play center.

I'm asking the OP, not saying what I think is true.

 

[Bodit9]

At the end of the day, Swayman is a top 5 goalie who projects to improve further. The top 5 centers in the game all make over 8 million; why shouldn't Swayman? Is Swayman's position less important? Jeremy is right to want to reset the goalie market.

Top 10? Yes. Top 5? Debatable. And yes, his position is less important. Goalies have much more volatile performance than position players and elite goaltending is not necessary for team success. This has been pointed out many times which is why they are paid less.

 

[SonnyBoy]

One. Last season. AS a 7 seed Linus shit the bed in games 1-2 then Swayman went 3-2 vs a 2 seed. Played very well. Almost saved the greatest season in the history of hockey coming in cold to play a game 7 he was about to win until the unfortunate Mac tip. Last year, in a much ballyhooed "retool" year had a series for the ages with zero O support and decent not great series vs the much better Florida Panthers.

So he isn't winning important matches? Sounds familiar. Against Florida last year 40% of he's matches was under ,845%. I thought too that he is going to be franchise goalie but seem to be just a headcase, good riddance.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

Your boy doesn't seem to be too interested in winning a Stanley Cup, either wise he would be signed and ready to play. But NO! They are chasing the money!
The Bruins is to win the Cup with or without Swayman, so it's up to him and his agent to decide what they want more!

Your job today is worth 90k. 2 years from now 100k. Years 4-8 your job is worth 150k. You have an 8 year contract for 800k. Signing it? Going to leave 240k on the table?

People are fixated on short term.

So he isn't winning important matches? Sounds familiar. Against Florida last year 40% of he's matches was under ,845%. I thought too that he is going to be franchise goalie but seem to be just a headcase, good riddance.

So anyone you disagree with about their net worth is a nutcase? Interesting. He is 1-0 in game 7s where he started game 1. I think he’s going to be a money guy

 

[DavidK]

He's still butthurt about arbitration. He has not matured

I am glad that Swayman has the self-respect to demand a salary that reflects his value, especially after management mistreated him during arbitration.

Memo to Bruins management: it is unacceptable to lie during negotiations. That goes for both last year and this year.

 

[TD Charlie]

Your job today is worth 90k. 2 years from now 100k. Years 4-8 your job is worth 150k. You have an 8 year contract for 800k. Signing it? Going to leave 240k on the table?

People are fixated on short term.

What if there's a chance that in years 2 through 8 the job is only worth 50k?

Risk goes both ways when talking 8 year deals, particularly with semi-unproven talents.