Speculation: The Bruins and Jeremy Swayman are far apart in contract term (length) and dollar amount.

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Hodge

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Think of all the utterly mediocre players at other positions who make around $8 million/year on long term deals: Hertl, Dubois, Caufield, Hronek, Kyrou, Norris, etc. Swayman is far more valuable to the Bruins than any of those players are to their teams. Why should he accept contracts on par with theirs? Just because he's a goalie? Add to that the cap going up and he's well within reason to ask for $10 million.
 

RickyLafleur

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Think of all the utterly mediocre players at other positions who make around $8 million/year on long term deals: Hertl, Dubois, Caufield, Hronek, Kyrou, Norris, etc. Swayman is far more valuable to the Bruins than any of those players are to their teams. Why should he accept contracts on par with theirs? Just because he's a goalie? Add to that the cap going up and he's well within reason to ask for $10 million.
Good point, but many of these guys aren't utterly medicore.
 
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Absurdity

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And why would he file for arbitration in the first place? Probably because he didn't like what the Bruins were offering.
Teams and players have agreed to contracts prior to the arbitration process. It takes two to tango, and right now, Swayman's camp doesn't want to dance.

Do we forget who Nylander's agent was when he held out until December 1st in 2018? Gross is also peeved the Bruins didn't give Krug the money he asked for. It's not a surprise Swayman and the Bruins are where they are at right now. The unwillingness to negotiate is coming from one side.
Maybe he doesn't want to be in Boston.
Negotiating publicly like this is pretty rare
 

frightenedinmatenum2

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Crazy to me that Neely is airing all this out but also crazy to me that Swayman wants more than 8x8.

He is airing it out because it's a fair offer, and the fan sentiment to this point has been that the Bruins botched this.

Swayman is in a unique spot because his actual skill level is that of a franchise goalie, but being in a tandem with another Vezina-tier goalie meant he was brought along slowly. He doesn't have the on paper resume of an 8x8 type goalie like Hellebuyck, Saros, or even Sorokin.

In terms of the offer, AAV+length may not be the point of contention. There might be other terms that are important, like a NMC, front-loaded money, or buyout proof signing bonuses. 8x8 with a 10-team NTC and no signing bonuses is a very different contract than 8x8, a NMC, and a large chunk of the salary in signing bonuses.
 

bb_fan

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He is airing it out because it's a fair offer, and the fan sentiment to this point has been that the Bruins botched this.

Swayman is in a unique spot because his actual skill level is that of a franchise goalie, but being in a tandem with another Vezina-tier goalie meant he was brought along slowly. He doesn't have the on paper resume of an 8x8 type goalie like Hellebuyck, Saros, or even Sorokin.

In terms of the offer, AAV+length may not be the point of contention. There might be other terms that are important, like a NMC, front-loaded money, or buyout proof signing bonuses. 8x8 with a 10-team NTC and no signing bonuses is a very different contract than 8x8, a NMC, and a large chunk of the salary in signing bonuses.
my money is on NMC and control.

I feel like Swayman, from past comments, would want all the control in that regard.
 

TheBeard

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It's possible Swayman doesn't want to take an 8 year deal knowing that the cap is going up even more and Igor could be making $11-12mil very soon.
I would imagine the bruins would prefer he take a shorter bridge deal since he doesn’t have the proven track record for a max-term deal.

At this point I have no idea what Swayman wants. The way it looks to me is he’s asking for FAR more than he’s worth and he’s not budging. Doing this after the Ullmark trade makes me believe it’s all been done in bad faith on his end.
 
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frightenedinmatenum2

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I would imagine the bruins would prefer he take a shorter bridge deal since he doesn’t have the proven track record for a max-term deal.

At this point I have no idea what Swayman wants. The way it looks to me is he’s asking for FAR more than he’s worth and he’s not budging. Doing this after the Ullmark trade makes me believe it’s all been done in bad faith on his end.

Unless he straight up said to them "yeah 6x6 sounds good go ahead and deal ullmark lol" then after they dealt Ullmark he is like "nah man 10x8 now", he didn't operate in bad faith.

A player using the maximum leverage isn't bad faith. I understand why fans don't like it. I didn't like Brady sitting out, and then getting a contract that at the time was more lucrative than any other comparable contracts, but I would never suggest he was operating on bad faith or that he was wrong to understand his leverage as the face of a team who couldn't afford to lose another big name star.
 
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Score08

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And why would he file for arbitration in the first place? Probably because he didn't like what the Bruins were offering.
Or his agent was trying to milk every last cent? His agent seems to have this type of track record, even if it’s not in his clients best interest.
 
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TheBeard

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Unless he straight up said to them "yeah 6x6 sounds good go ahead and deal ullmark lol" then after they dealt Ullmark he is like "nah man 10x8 now", he didn't operate in bad faith.

A player using the maximum leverage isn't bad faith. I understand why fans don't like it. I didn't like Brady sitting out, and then getting a contract that at the time was more lucrative than any other comparable contracts, but I would never suggest he was operating on bad faith or that he was wrong to understand his leverage as the face of a team who couldn't afford to lose another big name star.
Well I’m sure they spoke with Jeremy before the Ullmark deal to get assurance he wants to stay in Boston and intends to sign long/term and now suddenly it’s as if he’s totally exploiting his leverage… which he is perfectly allowed to. I just, at this point want this to bite him in the ass.
 
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frightenedinmatenum2

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Well I’m sure they spoke with Jeremy before the Ullmark deal to get assurance he wants to stay in Boston and intends to sign long/term and now suddenly it’s as if he’s totally exploiting his leverage… which he is perfectly allowed to. I just, at this point want this to bite him in the ass.

I only think it's bad faith if an agreement was made in principal that was contingent on Ullmark leaving, or if he is asking for money and terms on a long-term deal that is completely out-of-line with the market, and he has no interest in entertaining alternatives like a short or mid-term contract. Knowing that Ullmark leaving grants him more leverage and taking advantage of that isn't bad faith.

I think 8x8 is more than fair in terms of AAV, but it is only part of the story. His comparables have all received NMCs for at least part of their contracts. Some have received signing bonuses. Without knowing the terms, I wouldn't assume he is acting in bad faith.

As I said in a previous post, this is a tricky negotiation because everybody seems to acknowledge that skill wise he is a comparable to the goalies in the approx. 8M camp, but due to the nature of how the Bruins built their team, he wasn't granted the same opportunity as someone like Sorokin.

I think that sometimes people are harder on players who take a hardline in negotiations, because there is a conflict of interest as a fan. We want to see our teams get players on the most favourable contracts as possible. Players don't always take a hardline because there is a lot to lose by not securing the bag. So it ends up as a big point of contention for fans when a player sits out and maximizes their leverage, which I understand, but it's the right of the player. They aren't doing anything wrong. They are negotiating with an employer.
 

Fatass

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He is airing it out because it's a fair offer, and the fan sentiment to this point has been that the Bruins botched this.

Swayman is in a unique spot because his actual skill level is that of a franchise goalie, but being in a tandem with another Vezina-tier goalie meant he was brought along slowly. He doesn't have the on paper resume of an 8x8 type goalie like Hellebuyck, Saros, or even Sorokin.

In terms of the offer, AAV+length may not be the point of contention. There might be other terms that are important, like a NMC, front-loaded money, or buyout proof signing bonuses. 8x8 with a 10-team NTC and no signing bonuses is a very different contract than 8x8, a NMC, and a large chunk of the salary in signing bonuses.
Maybe if the AAV is only 8 Swayman will want a term that takes him to UFA status? And if the Bruins want to buy those UFA years that’s when the AAV jumps to 10+. So 8 years means an AAV of at least 9.
 

bert

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Never had an insane workload of 50 or more games like sorokin had. He has 42 games started in a season

$8x8 on the table

Gotta side with Boston management
That ridiculous that he wants more
He's blowing it. Playing on an organization like Boston with that d core. He is in the best place to succeed.

Really strange to me he wouldn't sign an 8 x 8.

Maybe he doesn't want to be in Boston for one reason or another. But personally I think he's not making the right decision.
 

Fatass

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Gotta start to wonder if these players are getting bad advice from the agents now a days. Greed will get you every time
Clearly layers deserve to be fairly compensated. Swayman is the Bruin’s most important player. Top goalies will be making over 10 per in a couple years. Bruins need to pay the guy what’s fair. And that looks like 8 per now and 10+ in a few years.
 

Monsieur Miz

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Dude had amazing playoffs but he never played more than 44 games. He also plays behind a very well structured team defensively. 8x8 is more than reasonable! They really f***ed up when they let Ullmark go. Maybe they had a gentlemen's agreement with Swayman and he shat the bed or something.
 
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