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...

 

[LSCII]

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.

Eh, I'm offering up a counter point to the folks that were saying how Cam and Don don't negotiate via the media earlier this week, and blaming the leaks on Gross without any actual proof. Only to then use Cam's media driven "offer" as proof the team was making a real concerted effort to sign the guy without seeing the irony of it all.

If you don't like it, don't read it and don't respond to it. Either way, it's f***ing hilarious to me to point out the hypocrisy.

 

[NDiesel]

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

Lmao, I'm genuinely impressed how you can just make up a scenario and be completely confident that's what happened.

I also am not sure you understand negotiations...

 

[Grimey]

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

LOL that’s a good one but I consider myself in the middle. Both parties need to get over themselves and work towards putting an end to this ridiculous soap opera already.

 

[LSCII]

How are you determining “fair market value” without using comps?

Still stuck on comps, are we? I've covered this a bunch here for you already. You can go back and review it again if you feel the need.

 

[DavidK]

They lied during the arbitration that was decided on by a neutral party and then gave Sway a year of it back?

They lied to the arbitrator about how they perceived Jeremy. For them to say, "We think he's average" was extremely disingenuous.

 

[Number8]

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 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

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???????????????

 

[Sevendust]

Sway is a future franchise goalie who is entering his prime and is about to sign the biggest contract of his life. With the cap coming up I get his line of thinking. A 9-10 million dollar cap will be not much in a few years and is the adequate payment for his service if he fulfills his potential. Right now he doesn't deserve this payment for sure but if the team wants to go the max contract length they have to pay for the before mentioned potential and prime. 8 million will be a lot of money but the chances are high he will be underpaid in two or three years. If the 6.5 million for 8 years rumour is true its really an insult.

Swayman is an homegrown talent and a great goalie. He had to share the net with Ullmark and didnt had the chance to show that he is the main goalie because Monty wanted to play goalies 50/50. Until now he had success on every level and I don't know a reason why he shouldn't lead the Bruins to a Stanley Cup win. The "trade him camp" shows how spoiled Bruins fans are with the great goalies the Bruins had in last years. Going from Thomas to Rask to Ullmark/Swayman is a luxury. Trade Sway and then what? Go with Korpisalo and Bussi? Because Korpisalo looked good in preseason games? Suck this year and hope to get Ullmark back after you traded him one offseason. Sorry but Ullmark is swedish for "sucks in the playoffs".

Both sides should get their head out their asses and sign a contract. Sweeney, if you can take on the Korpisalo contract you can live with Swayman being overpaid by a million or two right now.

 

[LSCII]

Lmao, I'm genuinely impressed how you can just make up a scenario and be completely confident that's what happened.

I also am not sure you understand negotiations...

You really don't think GMs hedge their bets? I mean, shit. I get why you'd say that with Sweeney given he was caught off guard twice when DK and PB retired and he hadn't addressed that possibility. but I'll give him full credit in this case. He took Korpisalo back for a reason, no question.

 

[analyser]

If this is true, why are there so many people claiming Swayman has "only" won 1 playoff round and hasn't the required hardware to consider himself one of the best? If a goalie position is less important, why does how many playoff series wins matter?

If he considered less important, then he should be paid as such.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

Poor Jeremy. They pointed out things his shortcomings and things he needs to get better at to earn bigger money. How awful for him.

Give me a break.

Well he did come back and save their asses with a super human goaltending effort so they didn't lose round 1 again. And he did it with Coyle and Zacha as his top 2 centers in a bridge year. I don't think i would ever get over being compared to Dan Vladar either tbf.

They have had since July 1 2022 to figure out a deal for him and they waited 820 days to put a solid contract offer in front of him.

 

[DavidK]

If Swayman thinks he's really really good and wants to be paid like it, I support that. At least he's not dishonest like management.

 

[Greek_physique]

Could he just be very difficult so Boston could trade him and he'd sign for less with another franchise once traded?

I still don't get why this has dragged out so long...I always thought of him as a soft, quiet and polite guy...lol

 

[SwayHeyKid]

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???????????????

all fair points and very good post.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

If Swayman thinks he's really really good and wants to be paid like it, I support that. At least he's not dishonest like management.

Again, how do you know management is dishonest? What proof do you have?

 

[Hookslide]

If Swayman signs right now, he's not going to be 100% ready for the season. It might take him 10-20 games before he gets up to speed. This holdup is not doing anyone favors.

His new team can worry about that

 

[PB37]

Still stuck on comps, are we? I've covered this a bunch here for you already. You can go back and review it again if you feel the need.

So what is your fair market deal for Swayman?

 

[shelbysdad]

Questions for sway to ask himself

Do I like it in Boston
Do I like my teammates
Do I think we can win a cup here
Will I be happy going to a team such as Ana, SJ, Utah (speculation)

And now the big one....
Do I want to be known as the goalie who set the market, or would I rather go down in history as a (hopefully) Stanley cup winning goaltender

Can I put it all behind me, knowing I wouldn't have to do this again for 8 years.

If he answers the 2d with the set the market, then just request a trade and get it over

 

[Boston BROin]

They can't go above 8.5 for this kid. I just can't get over the fact that he hasn't played a full season as a lone number 1, yet. Especially when taking a look over what the Bruins have turned into gold once Goalie Bob came on. Korpisalo with this coaching staff and defense could be in line for a great year.

In 21 years:

He has had 2 goalies TOTAL who have posted under a .900 save %: Raycroft in 2005-06-30gp, .879 sv%. and Toivonan in 2006-07-18gp, .875 sv%

The worst preforming starting goalie in his tenure is 06-07 Tim Thomas with a 905 (league average was .903 so still barely above average in his worst year)

He has had 6 seasons where his starters were .929 or higher (usually the benchmark for an elite season that happens very rarely for teams). For comparison, in the same time period, the Penguins and Hawks (5 combined cups) did not have a single year where they got .929. Crawford was steadily in the 920’s for a good chunk of time but never hit that threshold.

He has had 11 seasons where his starters were .919 or higher….the league average between 05-06-present, ranges from .898 (lowest) to .911 (highest).

All this with guys like Felix Potvin, Toivonen, Alex Auld, Manny Fernandez, Chad Johnson, Svedberg, Gustavsson, Khudobin and Halak playing anywhere between 20 and 40 games a season.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Surprised at the number of people on here rooting for our goaltending to get flushed down the shitter.

 

[Bridges31]

Wild stuff from this kid.

Trade him. I don’t even think he’s worth 8.

 

[Deal Law]

Wild stuff from this kid.

f*** him. He overplayed his hand. The bruins are already over his fair value and he still won’t budge. Bye, Sway. Don’t let the door hit you in ass.

 

[The don godfather]

Trade sway and get best package if he doesn't take 64 million . I believe cam neely.

 

[GoBs]

I wonder how much of Swaymans stance is dictated/directed by the union. I mean, Oettinger is due up next year. I'm sure his agent and the union are watching these negotiations.

But at this point Oettinger has played 193 games to Swayman’s 132

 

[Thirty Seven]

If you're getting paid elite goalie numbers, people should expect elite goalie results.

Absolutely, it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Serious question, why do goalies have no trade value? And if so should that not be a factor when determining their contract value?

They have always held minimal value in the eyes of many, I hope Swayman doesn't want to set the goalie trade market.