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

[TheBeard]

Swayman also had a very, very strong .933 save percentage in the playoffs last year. Ullmark was a horrible .896 and .886 the last two years in Boston in the post-season.

That’s an incredibly misleading stat. Ullmark played one game and came in another after Swayman was yanked. The year before Ullmark was outstanding for the first 4 games but for some reason Monty decided to go away from the rotation and overwork Linus.

If you’re gonna blast Ullmark for his brief playoff stint this past year then you have to do the same for Sway the year prior.

 

[Soundwave]

That’s an incredibly misleading stat. Ullmark played one game and came in another after Swayman was yanked. The year before Ullmark was outstanding for the first 4 games but for some reason Monty decided to go away from the rotation and overwork Linus.

If you’re gonna blast Ullmark for his brief playoff stint this past year then you have to do the same for Sway the year prior.

The numbers are what they are, I would say Ullmark was a big reason why they got upset in round 1 last year versus Florida.

At the end of the day though, .933 in the 2024 playoffs is freaking fantastic for Swayman.

If you're not going to use cap space on your good players, what is even the point of having cap space.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Boston completely botched this one. Traded Ullmark for little, handed the power to Swayman and tried to cheap out on him, but he's a well-educated player and feels a sense of camaraderie towards the position in general. Way to go lmao.

 

[Soundwave]

Boston completely botched this one. Traded Ullmark for little, handed the power to Swayman and tried to cheap out on him, but he's a well-educated player and feels a sense of camaraderie towards the position in general. Way to go lmao.

They'll probably figure it out, but Neely probably needs to cool it. It isn't the 80s anymore, it's not even the 90s. I respect the passion but this is a different generation and the economics of this era are vastly different, player's have so much more they have to consider.

 

[UConn126]

Players shouldn't be booed for asking for what isn't unreasonable amounts. 8, even 8.5 is not as unreasonable as people are making it out to be. You have to factor in what the cap is going to be going forward.

If you would have be A-OK paying a player of his caliber 6-6.5 million a few years ago when the cap was 79.5, just pay the man his 8-8.5. You're getting bogged by optics, the cap will rise quickly and basically by percentage wise that 8-8.5 is going to be what 6-6.5 used to be.

He isn't asking for 8 though. If he was this would've been done already. It's been abundantly clear the Bruins would be willing to go to 8-8.5 the whole process because they left that much cap open. Swayman wants more than that and is refusing to play until he gets it, which anymore than 8.5 would force another roster move. That, to this fan, is absolutely booable.

 

[Roo]

The bruins management has negotiated dozens of contracts and nothing close to this disaster has ever occurred. Fast forward to the one agent with a propensity for being a dbag and suddenly this all the bruins fault? Gross acting like a bratty 10 yr punk and doing huge disservice to his client. If sway was smart he’d dump this clown ASAP.

It’s a tough negotiation. Not everyone will cave in for the B’s. Nobody knows what is being said in these negotiations. The president making public comments like this reeks of frustration. Highly doubtful Swayman has no idea what his agent is up to.

 

[UConn126]

I'd probably rather earn 7m/yr in San Jose than 8m/yr in any NHL cities that experience winter except New York

With global warming we don't really get much of a winter in Boston anymore. Boston has gone like 3-4 straight years without a snow storm greater than 4". Record low snowfall.

 

[Kingsfan1]

According to Freidman Swayman is contemplating requesting a trade . Boston really screwed the pooch on this one . This is bonkers !

Kuemper + + for Swayman

 

[Danarqhy]

I read somewhere that when Nylander signed with the Leafs, Gross didn't negotiate at the all. Basically gave the Maple Leafs a number and didn't budge one bit. If that's the case, and if Swayman thinks he can command $9mill for barely half a season of work + some good playoff games... LOL. Dude is just not gonna play this season, and that will be it.

Maybe Lewis Gross should stop negotiating with the Bruins and start negotiating for the cheapest flight straight to Russia for his client since he might not be getting a penny this year from the Bruins or any NHL team.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Maybe Lewis Gross should stop negotiating with the Bruins and start negotiating for the cheapest flight straight to Russia for his client since he might not be getting a penny this year from the Bruins or any NHL team.

The Goalie market has been "off" for a bit now. Florida winning the Cup with the highest cap hit goalie who isn't the top goaltender in the game is some evidence of that. It will be reset when Shesterkin signs his next deal but that doesn't mean Swayman owes the Bruins anything just because.

 

[gstommylee]

The Goalie market has been "off" for a bit now. Florida winning the Cup with the highest cap hit goalie who isn't the top goaltender in the game is some evidence of that. It will be reset when Shesterkin signs his next deal but that doesn't mean Swayman owes the Bruins anything just because.

that also can mean bruins don't owe Swayman anything either. Bruins don't have to give swayman what he wants and just do with what they have.

According to Freidman Swayman is contemplating requesting a trade . Boston really screwed the pooch on this one . This is bonkers !

Kuemper + + for Swayman

lol good luck getting that contract with some other team of that amount he wants. Its going to backfire when he starts playing terrible cause the teams that can afford such an amount are not that great thus make the contract look extremely terrible.

 

[WarriorofTime]

that also can mean bruins don't owe Swayman anything either. Bruins don't have to give swayman what he wants and just do with what they have.

Yeah, they can trade him to someone who will pay his asking price. They can have fun with that considering they already traded Ullmark.

 

[Danarqhy]

The Goalie market has been "off" for a bit now, it will be reset when Shesterkin signs his next deal but that doesn't mean Swayman owes the Bruins anything just because.

The market hasn't been off (can the market even be off?)... teams have just smartened up and realized that goaltenders are voodoo and paying one too much most of the time results in a crippling boat anchor.

Shesterkin is great, however Swayman isn't at that level yet. But for all we know Shesty could completely fall off a cliff after he signs a big deal... has happened before. And GMs know this.

 

[gstommylee]

Yeah, they can trade him to someone who will pay his asking price. They can have fun with that considering they already traded Ullmark.

Huge different between can and actually WILL. And like i said it'll immediately show its a bad contract cause the team that has the cap space aren't exactly that great of a teams to begin with and it'll make him look like an overpaid player that's not great. And since it also been pointed out goalies are voodoo he can play terrible for the entire length of the contract.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The market hasn't been off (can the market even be off?)... teams have just smartened up and realized that goaltenders are voodoo

Aboslutely it can be "off", Hellebuyck signed for way too little. Good for the Jets, but that doesn't mean every other Goaltender is required to follow suit.

I guess Swayman has decided he doesn't consider himself "voodoo" despite what Cam Neely may be telling him... and feels he should be treated as a top player in the League. Your move, Boston.

 

[Score08]

Aboslutely it can be "off", Hellebuyck signed for way too little. Good for the Jets, but that doesn't mean every other Goaltender is required to follow suit.

I guess Swayman has decided he doesn't consider himself "voodoo" despite what Cam Neely may be telling him... and feels he should be treated as a top player in the League. Your move, Boston.

Top players in the league play more than 44 games a season

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Like I'll just simplify it and put it like this.

For a moment pretend it's 18-19. COVID isn't a thing, you've never heard of it, life has reset to right before the pandemic happened.

The NHL salary cap is 79.5 million.

Would you pay this version of Jeremey Swayman 6-6.3 million circa 2019?

If the answer to that question is yes, then give the man his 8-8.25m per and just get it over with.

The large increases that are coming in the cap will quickly price down his contract to what used to be 6-6.3 mill.

Not worth losing one of the top 20-something goalies in the league over that. Let some people giggle that you overpaid, they likely don't understand where the cap is going, in 2 years or so, you'll be fine with the deal.

Why didnt Hellebuyck get $7.2M/yr (9.1% of cap) when he signed his 6yr deal in 2018? Instead it was $6.1M x 6yrs. 7.6% of the cap. Pretty similar situation to Swayman now, same age and RFA status, but I'd argue he was a little further ahead coming off a 2nd team all-star/ Vezina runner-up season with 64 starts.

The Bruins are well above of offering a contract that is comparable to that one, anyways. They're offering 9.1% of the cap, $8M x 8yrs already, and it's not a matter of coming up another 500k to get it done. Swayman wants $9.5M, a contract far above what any goalie, RFA or UFA, at his age and accomplishments has ever received, and has not appeared to have budged a dollar on it yet. If he comes down to a more reasonable $8.5M x8yr ask this contract gets finalized in a day, easy.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Top players in the league play more than 44 games a season

Goalies have a disproportionate impact on winning.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

All jokes until Korpisalo has Vezina level stats the first 3-4 weeks in front of Boston's defense. I get Boston's logic not paying a goalie, I wouldn't do it either in the cap world.

 

[Bounces R Way]

I would just lock Sway, Sweeney, and Bob Essensa in a Four Seasons hotel room until they hammer out a fair deal.

Gross can wait at the buffet. I hear they have good pulled pork sliders.

 

[Score08]

Goalies have a disproportionate impact on winning.

And goalies that play more than 44 games a season have a much bigger impact and get paid accordingly.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

We can't really make the numbers work, but I say trade to the Sens. We will send back Forsberg.

then we have a nice little experiment with the teams swapping both goalies.

 

[VaporTrail]

All jokes until Korpisalo has Vezina level stats the first 3-4 weeks in front of Boston's defense. I get Boston's logic not paying a goalie, I wouldn't do it either in the cap world.

Maybe Boston's offer goes down then ? Say 6.5 mill/ season for Swayman ? Lol

 

[PB37]

The unfortunate part is that the bad angle shots which should be easy saves are the goals Korpisalo gives up. He can’t hug a post (or a stop a floater from the blue line when there’s no traffic in front).

The miraculous, acrobatic saves when he’s left out to dry? He makes those.

Also just as an FYI, Ottawa gave up fewer high and medium danger chances against than Boston last year. Amazingly, they had a lower expected goals against than the Bruins!

Their problem was that too many goals went in on the “low danger” shots against. Usually in the first 2-3 minutes of the game…

According to Moneypuck, the Bruins goalies made 34 saves that they should have been goals, and the Senators goalies let in 26 goals that should have been saves.

A 60 goal swing because of goaltending. #themoreyouknow

Goalie Bob has already changed Korp's style of how he protects the post to the way the Bruins want their goalies to play it. There's also some talk he had laser eye surgey this offseason to correct some vision issues. We've had some discussion of this on our forums. He's looked solid in preseason so far but there's only one way to find out if all of this will transfer to a better regular season for Korp.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Boston completely botched this one. Traded Ullmark for little, handed the power to Swayman and tried to cheap out on him, but he's a well-educated player and feels a sense of camaraderie towards the position in general. Way to go lmao.

Trading Ullmark was just really dumb. Surrendered all of their leverage.