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

[Fatass]

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.

Maybe the Bruins should offer 8 x 3 and stop trying to buy this guys UFA years for cheap?

 

[Nothingbutglass]

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.

Swayman is not the Bruins most important player. 8x8 is fair compensation when looking at comparables. Is it going to be 10+ for everyone if a few years? Bob and Price signed in 2017-2019 and no one was reached 10 since.

 

[EXTRAS]

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.

Had any of those players never played 45 games in a season before they got their 8m per?

 

[TheBeard]

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.

It's tricky, but here's my problem. He's asking for term he hasn't yet earned, AAV he hasn't yet earned and plays a volatile position that teams rarely pay a premium for. The whole notion of Igor resetting the market is probably true, however I honestly don't expect Igor will be looking for max term and the Rangers would be foolish to pay him until he's 37-38.

Swayman, from a logical perspective isn't really showing a lot of confidence in himself if he's unwilling to take a shorter term bridge deal, even if its at an AAV of 10 to prove he can be the defacto 1 for more than 40 games. I would love nothing more than for Korpisalo to come in and absolutely ball out behind that Boston defense (which is very possible).

 

[Fatass]

Swayman is not the Bruins most important player. 8x8 is fair compensation when looking at comparables. Is it going to be 10+ for everyone if a few years? Bob and Price signed in 2017-2019 and no one was reached 10 since.

Watching last years playoff win over the Leafs Swayman sure looked like the Bruins must important pkayer. And imo after moving ulmark that is only compounded.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

The Bruins already messed up by choosing to keep the wrong goalie. No sense in messing up again by getting locked into a bad contract with the guy they kept. Just trade his ass and let someone else deal with his inflated ego and greed if 8x8 isn't good enough for an unproven goalie. Let him see how he does on a full workload and without the goalie hugs, an elite goalie coach, and a great defense that have helped make him look good.

The only way I can sympathize with Swayman is if he wants a short-term contract and the Bruins will only put 8 years on the table. But if he's wanting 8 years at more than $64M then he's in lala land.

 

[boredguy]

Swayman probably feels goalies in general are underpaid so probably won't be using them as comparables for his contract. If he feels like he's a top 50 player and wants to be paid like one 8x8 is not a great offer.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Watching last years playoff win over the Leafs Swayman sure looked like the Bruins must important pkayer. And imo after moving ulmark that is only compounded.

He's not. Winning a playoff round against the Leafs isnt a barometer of anything. Everyone does that.

Swayman probably feels goalies in general are underpaid so probably won't be using them as comparables for his contract. If he feels like he's a top 50 player and wants to be paid like one 8x8 is not a great offer.

Maybe playing a year in Sweden will change his perspective.

 

[Breakers]

Sorokin had the a substantially heavier workload and had shown he could handle it

Swayman doesnt. And yes it is a coaches decision on games started, but I’m sure countless players have said I deserve more if the coach played me more.

 

[A1LeafNation]

8m x 2 years.

This 8m per seems like a bridge deal for Swayman.

 

[Fatass]

8m x 2 years.

This 8m per seems like a bridge deal for Swayman.

Agreed. But maybe a three year term would be what’s most fair. So 8 mil x 3 years. If the Bruins want to lock him up for a longer term and buy ufa years the AAV will need to prefect that. IMO that’s the sticking point.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Neither of those deals would be on the table. Its not how it works.

 

[A1LeafNation]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1840800625644171450

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

I suppose this impasse will... prevent Swayman from playing his position.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Swayman probably feels goalies in general are underpaid so probably won't be using them as comparables for his contract. If he feels like he's a top 50 player and wants to be paid like one 8x8 is not a great offer.

Sweet, give him a top 50 contract ($8.5M) pro-rated to expected games played.

Saros played the most games last year at 64. (64/82) x $8.5M = $6.63M

 

[SensFactor]

They might look for a trade at this point. He would have a great return.

 

[Stealth JD]

Bruins should trade Swayman to Ottawa for Ullmark, and he can become the next John Klingberg after he posts Korpisalo-like stats and wonders where is big pay day went.

 

[TheBeard]

Frankly, it appears Swayman is still butthurt from the Arbitration process last year.

It's clear Swayman has no interest in playing in the 4 Nations Cup either since the competition for US goaltending is stiff and he's not exactly showing himself to be a team player.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

He's not. Winning a playoff round against the Leafs isnt a barometer of anything. Everyone does that.

Especially the Bruins. Looking at Swayman's playoff stats against non-Leafs over the past 2 seasons is not super impressive. He lost his one start in game 7 in 2023, with a .871 save PCT. In 2024 he lost 4 of his 6 starts in round 2, including games with .826 and .844 save PCT.

2 wins and 5 losses in games started against non-Leafs the past two playoff seasons, and he wants to set a new standard for goalie pay? Laughable. I could buy into his fantasy if he was guaranteed he would play the Leafs every round of every playoffs.

 

[genk]

They might look for a trade at this point. He would have a great return.

Anaheim would be the perfect fit.

 

[seanlinden]

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.

He's probably looking at it in a similar context to Dylan Guenther, but on a larger scale.

He knows the cap is going to see a massive jump in 1-3 years.

He's 25 years old. A 4 year deal for the B's at $6m would be amazing (for the B's) but probably a bit foolish on his part. It's a $24m deal.

Lets say his ask is a $72m deal ($9m x 8). He'd have to be able and go out and get a $12m AAV in 4 years to be equal. Sure, the cap will be up, but injuries, potential for poor play, and the continuing trend of "goalies being voodoo" may prevent him from doing that.

 

[BB88]

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 luck finding a team that’s ready to pay him 10M today per season

 

[HockeyVirus]

So refreshing to not only have another teams player pull this crap, but to do it to the Bruins who some fans always seemed to look down their nose with these sort of things. Between Swayman, Pasta, and McAvoy they will be paying top dollar for their guys, possible overpayments depending how this goes.

 

[TheBeard]

He's probably looking at it in a similar context to Dylan Guenther, but on a larger scale.

He knows the cap is going to see a massive jump in 1-3 years.

He's 25 years old. A 4 year deal for the B's at $6m would be amazing (for the B's) but probably a bit foolish on his part. It's a $24m deal.

Lets say his ask is a $72m deal ($9m x 8). He'd have to be able and go out and get a $12m AAV in 4 years to be equal. Sure, the cap will be up, but injuries, potential for poor play, and the continuing trend of "goalies being voodoo" may prevent him from doing that.

He's basically asking the Bruins to take ALL the risk. He's a good goaltender but in no way does he have the resume to make such demands. I know, I know, that's not how it works and players can do what they want, but he may soon find himself playing for a team with a much worse defensive structure in place and no intention of signing him long term.

 

[HockeyVirus]

They might look for a trade at this point. He would have a great return.

No they wouldn't. Who is signing up to massively overpay a goalie with a career high 44 starts and only 132 GP?