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...

 

[LiseL]

Florida won the Cup with Bob making $10M.

Bob didn't carry the team to the cup. When they were playing run and gun like the year they won the President's Trophy, they were eliminated in the 1st round. It wasn't until Zito made the changes to the roster and coach that they won. He was an important piece but not the only piece. Skinner managed to get the Oilers to game 7 and lost by one goal. It could've gone either way IMO. Florida lost to Vegas the year before with Aiden Hill in net. It was basically the same roster as this year. Did Bob help them win the cup? Yes. Wouldn't he have been the MVP if he was the main reason they won?

 

[LiseL]

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.

Even last year during the regular season, Stolarz had better numbers and a higher winning percentage. It's hard to know when a goalie will be in the zone at playoff time, even when they're first rate. Price and Helleybuck come to mind of goalies who haven't gotten it done in spite of their pedigree.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

Rask had an even better playoff run than Swayman did last year, led them to the Cup finals. Maybe if Swayman gets them to the finals we could have the same conversation.

one played for a team that won the cup two years earlier and one played for a team in a transition year.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

This seems ass backwards, since it was Camp Swayman that was turning to the media several times before the Bruins finally responded.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1828101705994530968

Bruins started here no? Negotiating through the media?

 

[CheerstoBeers]

Can anyone explain why the Bruin chose not to take the arbitration award for two years and instead took one? I don't understand why that wouldn't mean anything to Swayman that the Bruins could have had him this year for 3 4 million but instead chose to negotiate a new deal for him and pay him.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

.2 or .4 million here or there. Sounds worth it to alienate a fanbase like Boston. Do your thing sway. Clown show

Mike Reilly is the Bruins sixth highest paid defenseman this year cap hit wise. Bruins don't care about a couple million here and there he also hasnt said anything on the new 8x8 offer since its 72 hours old.

Can anyone explain why the Bruin chose not to take the arbitration award for two years and instead took one? I don't understand why that wouldn't mean anything to Swayman that the Bruins could have had him this year for 3 4 million but instead chose to negotiate a new deal for him and pay him.

two years would have brought them to one year before he could bolt and it would have sealed the deal on his departure. Guessing both sides didn't hate each other then either.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Can anyone explain why the Bruin chose not to take the arbitration award for two years and instead took one? I don't understand why that wouldn't mean anything to Swayman that the Bruins could have had him this year for 3 4 million but instead chose to negotiate a new deal for him and pay him.

You pick the term before the arbitrator comes to a value, not after. The arbitrator would have given a higher AAV on a 2 year term. Bruins chose 1 year for better cap flexibility in a year when it was pretty tight.

 

[LiseL]

I really wish Gross simply hadn't leaked the offer from the Bruins to Spittin'. This is where everything went sour. Up until that point, it was a closed door negotiation. Now everyone is in the mud slinging it around. Can we all agree that it started there?

To be clear, I'm not certain on the money he deserves or should get but rather angry that the whole situation took a curve in the wrong direction and I think the entire fanbase could agree it started right there.

Reminds me of when rumours were flying last summer about offer sheets for Shane Pinto (Gross is his agent too, surprise). Luckily it didn't last long and he got signed to a fair 2 year contract. We'll never know if those rumours affected the timing or amount of the contract Pinto got.

I agree, those tactics can cause real problems. I don't see it stopping anytime soon unless GMs start fighting back. I also don't understand why so many fans of many teams have issues with management but rarely the players. This isn't like the bad old days where players had to also work to supplement their income. Even today's league minimum salaries are enough to live on and save a few bucks + players salaries account for 50% of revenues. The total amount that can be spent on players is finite due to the cap so if all the stars get top dollar, there's just less to go around for the other players. I guess those markets don't matter, every man for himself.

 

[KrejciMVP]

one played for a team that won the cup two years earlier and one played for a team in a transition year.

Didn't the Bruins set a record for regular season points 2 seasons ago

 

[bruinmann77]

If he wants 10 forget it

 

[DavidK]

Where did they say that? That’s not how arbitration works.

Even Swayman said himself it’s all based on statistics.

No he didn't. And not even close.

 

[LiseL]

You literally used a comparison to the top earners in the league in the first line to come to that number, because you can't come to a starting point without some sort of market to compare to

I don't think you can use forwards as a comp as they're the hardest positions to fill so they're usually the ones that get paid the most. One issue that is unique to the goalie market is teams have the option of using a tandem instead of a starter/backup. Yes, a starter will make more than a tandem goalie but it's a risk for a team if the starter goes down and they have to rely on their cheap backup, whereas in a tandem, both goalies are roughly of the same calibre and usually it doesn't cost more than having a starter + cheap backup. It also shouldn't be as painful if one of them goes down. If starters start pricing themselves out of the market, then more teams could go the tandem route. It may not seem fair, but that's the direction the market seems to be heading into.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Can anyone explain why the Bruin chose not to take the arbitration award for two years and instead took one? I don't understand why that wouldn't mean anything to Swayman that the Bruins could have had him this year for 3 4 million but instead chose to negotiate a new deal for him and pay him.

We will never know. I think the bruins planned to make Swayman the starter in 2025 (even last summer), and after the acrimonious arbitration process they wanted to make sure they could take care of him and bring hi salary up to what is a very fair level for a player of hi status.

They have now down this, and he seems unwilling to consider a contract that fairly reflects his status and instead wants to reset the market for future goalies. Whether it is coming from Marty Walsh, or his agent, or his business school professor, he is getting really bad advice from someone

 

[LiseL]

Also bruins can offer him leag min of $750 k
He would have to accept it or just sit out for this year and if they want to do it again next year

I think he would have to accept that offer as they can't offer less than what they offered him last year, otherwise they're letting him walk. That's what happened with RFA Brannstrom in Ottawa. His qualifying offer had to be more than $2 million so they didn't qualify him. He then got signed by the Avs for around $950K. This was another contract that Dorion screwed up by giving him $2M the year before. It's now clear what his value truly is on the open market.

 

[DavidK]

LOL @ the expectation that a player who is among the very best at his position and still improving accept less than 8 million. That's some kind of entitlement from Bruins fans.

 

[LiseL]

it started last year when Swayman mentioned in separate interviews the hardships he had to endure hearing who the Bruins were comparing him too and having to chin up and play on. Poor guy. It continued when he went on video bragging about his business degree shield of armor he's proudly wearing and that he knows who is comparables are and insinuated he wants to be a goaltender salary trailblazer. Then it was the leaked info to Chicklets and that seemed to be the last straw as far as letting their side bitch in the media without firing back.

Exactly. If you want negotiations to remain private, it's a two-way street.

 

[LiseL]

Say the B’s have had enough and want to stick it to him and they rescind their offers, does the player then have any course of action?

Just curious!

I believe they have to at minimum give him a qualifying offer that is a little bit higher than what he received last year otherwise he walks as a UFA. That's what happened to Sens RFA defenceman, Brannstrom in the off-season. They had to give him at least $2.1M as a qualifying offer but decided to not qualify him so he walked.

 

[LiseL]

EF confirmed that the original offer was $6.5 x 8 or $6.4 x 4.

That's not a lie.

Also if $1.6 million doesn't matter, I envy your bank account.

But that offer doesn't even make sense. Wouldn't he have accepted the 4 year deal and become a UFA at the age of 29 and then get his payday while still in his prime? Also, who was EF's source? Did he say?

 

[LiseL]

No chance. I have faith that my favorite teams management aren't a bunch of spiteful morons to get rid of him and realize if they want to be here another 8-10 years they should hitch their wagon on Sway.

I do feel bad for alot of people here that they are going to have to cheer for him though, hope you will all be ok from this horribly traumatic event of an athlete getting an extra few million from a billionaire.

Your last statement is so disingenuous. Bruins already spend to the cap and are willing to part with almost all of it with their latest offer. What does this have to do with the owner?

 

[LiseL]

Once one side goes public, both get out the mud.

Let's not lose focus on how they all got here in the trenches. This was the plan of the agent to bring it public and to this position.

Now both look bad and the relationship could be beyond repair...

...and this is where Gross wanted to take it.

Maybe he got used to dealing with GM's like Treliving (who was the GM in Calgary for Gaudreau's contract then GM for the Leafs with Nylanders UFA contract) and Dubas who was the GM for Nylander's RFA contract. Two GMs who don't seem to put up much of a fight when negotiating with top-end players. I guess he now knows the Bruins brass don't seem to be from the same cloth.

 

[LiseL]

OK, announced in the middle of the office

I find it hard to believe you would be ok with what Neely did in that situation.

But if you're being fair, that same employee would've first told the office gossip that the boss' offer was low-ball or he wasn't getting a response. Salary negotiations are usually kept private by both parties. Was it unprofessional for Cam to bring it up in a press conference? Absolutely. But shouldn't players/agents also be professional in their dealings? The onus can't only be on management. Plenty of blame to go around here. It's just so sad that it's come to this.

 

[The Un4casted Storm]

Ridiculous. Even Friedman said 8x8 is on the table. This $7.8 or $8 offer and when was it offered are just playing internet lawyer games. Totally irrelevant. Why do the Bruins need to say more? They made their point, and it sounds like it's their final offer. Swayman is also getting roasted right now in the local media, so seems to help the Bruins in the PR battle as well. Now Gross can use all this leverage I've been told Swayman has to make his next step. But sure, Neely is a liar and Bruins look bad.

This. The how and when of the $64 million offer is less relevant than whether it's enough to get Swayman signed and into a Bruins jersey for this season and beyond.

However, since the majority of this board seems to have concluded that this was more-or-less an acceptable offer months ago, I guess it's less interesting to discuss than bickering over which side's lying and who's to blame for all the sniping in the media lol.

 

[LiseL]

I'd say the same about Neely and Sweeney acting emotional and unprofessional at press conferences. And let's not pretend like the Bruins front office doesn't have a history of leaking things about coaches and players after they let them go.

But after they let them go. This isn't the same unless you think they're forecasting their intentions going forward.

 

[LiseL]

Ullmark tried doing that and the team said "F U we don't want you. In fact, we're going to trade you right now before you can stop us, even though you say you want to stay with the team."

That's the kind of loyalty this front office has.

To be fair, didn't Ullmark and Swayman both want to be starters (55+)? Can't have 2 so you have to choose. Do you think they made the wrong choice? Before these negotiations, I didn't see too many people say the made the wrong choice. Hindsight is 20/20, there was no way anyone could predict that this fiasco would happen.

You could debate they could've waited till next year's deadline to trade him but Swayman was due for a raise this year regardless. Should Boston have paid that much for a goalie tandem? That would've left no cap space to add to the roster during the off-season. Maybe you don't like the additions they made in the off-season but it was clear they had to either trade him or let him go once his contract was up. I really don't see this situation as being disloyal to Ullmark. They had 2 great goalies so one of them had to go as there was no way to pay both of them once Ullmark became a UFA.

 

[BiteThisBurrows]

Let's be real. 8x8 is a freakin' generous contract and possibly an overpay. His ask is ridiculous.

Saros extension is for 7.74 and he's played over 60 games 3 straight seasons with stats similar to Swayman's on a crappier team. I don't think he should actually be getting more than Saros, he hasn't earned it, but 8 puts him over so F him if he wants more. It's absurd.

Jeremy Swayman Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Juuse Saros Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com