Yes, Swayman is free to talk to any other teams and they can offer an offer sheet if they would like. Crickets. There are no 9m offers coming.
And the upside for Swayman is getting another 8 year deal at 29 years old. Instead of hitting UFA again at 33. Just like Helly. Just like Saros. And just like Shesterkin will be signing. Do you think all of their agents are grossly irresponsible? The only goalie to go long term as an RFA in the last 10 years is Vasi.
If we assume the cap goes up ~4m a year, in 4 years the equivalent to the Helly/Saros level deals would be worth over 8x10m AAV.
Option 1:
4x6.5 + 8x10 = 106m
Option 2:
8x8 + ??? ... do we think that Swayman will be getting a 4x10 deal at 33 years old?
All the other top goalies for the last 10 years (aside from Vasi) have done a shorter term deal to take them to their late 20s to cash in again when they have proven more. The maturity and aging curves for goalies just doesn't match up with the CBA timelines like they do for skaters.
Of course, there's a big gap between being willing to pay Swayman $9m x 8, and giving up 4 first round picks for the privilige of doing so. The team that is willing to pay him that is likely not very good right now, and recognizes the importance of keepign that future currency.
As for the comparables you mentioned, it's potentially important to consider the circumstances that each one of those players signed their previous contracts under. Notably, it's important to consider that the overarching assumption is that there's a big bump to the cap coming in recent years, with a lot of players wanting to make sure they get their fair share of that bump.
Connor Hellebuyck did a 6 year deal, coming off a 67 game seaso nwhere he put up a .924. The previous 2 years he played 26 and 56 games. The cap was $79.5m at that time, and his hit was $6.167m. Essentially, he had 1 year as a #1 with decent numbers, and then his contract year was obviously great. If you were to do a 6-year with Swayman, just using inflation it would be around $7m per.
Saros at that point in his career, was still largely living in the shadow of Pekka Rinne. He signed a contract to get himself a guaranteed "spot" as a tandem goalie.
Shesterkin, prior to signing his deal, had essentially 1 season -- the COVID-short one -- worth of experience in the NHL. Yes, he was the #1 (playing 35 games) and was very good, but you have no idea if it's a flash-in-the-pan situation, so not a terrible idea to get yourself SOME security.
Swayman doesn't have the "role" track record that Hellebuyck does, but he's established himself as a very strong tandem goaltender for longer than Hellebuyck had at that point in his career. It's also worthwhile considering that Hellebuyck has been one of the league's best goaltenders for the vast majority of his career, yet never amongst the highest paid. Furthermore, you look at the deal he signed -- $8.5m x 7 -- does he get that if he hadn't been as remarkably consistent in his age 29 and 30 years?
So yeah, with a shade under $5m in career earnings thus far, it's almost certainly in Swayman's best interest to lock down somewhere between $65 and $70m in guaranteed money, even if it means making it really difficult for him to get another big deal in 8 years.