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

[TheBeard]

Doesn’t sound like that’s what they’re asking for. Boston can fit 9.5M under the cap this year with minimal roster moves. His agent should be fighting as hard as possible for that number.

Also the agent who has secured Nylander over $130 million in projected career earnings.

Personally then i don’t want a player who has no problem handcuffing his team where they can’t make improvements in season because his agent tried to milk every cent of their available cap.

 

[AKL]

Doesn’t sound like that’s what they’re asking for. Boston can fit 9.5M under the cap this year with minimal roster moves. His agent should be fighting as hard as possible for that number.

Why aren't they asking for that? It's stupid not to ask for every penny isn't it?

I'm gonna speed this up because I don't feel like being here all night. The reason they're not asking for 13M to get every penny is because there's a line where it doesn't make sense to ask for, or hold out for, more money, because the player isn't worth it. That line is below what Swayman's camp is asking for.

The Bruins have already come up from 6.5M to 7.8M, which is still arguably more than Swayman is worth. Time for Swayman's camp to come down and sign the contract so he can start playing hockey.

Just because Boston can fit X number under the cap without making moves, doesn't mean they should give it to him, certainly doesn't mean he's worth it.

 

[Hodge]

Why aren't they asking for that? It's stupid not to ask for every penny isn't it?

I'm gonna speed this up because I don't feel like being here all night. The reason they're not asking for 13M to get every penny is because there's a line where it doesn't make sense to ask for, or hold out for, more money, because the player isn't worth it. That line is below what Swayman's camp is asking for.

The Bruins have already come up from 6.5M to 7.8M, which is still arguably more than Swayman is worth. Time for Swayman's camp to come down and sign the contract so he can start playing hockey.

Just because Boston can fit X number under the cap without making moves, doesn't mean they should give it to him, certainly doesn't mean he's worth it.

Because the Bruins wouldn't be able to fit 13M under the cap for this season. They can fit up to 9.5M pretty easily.

If Boston wanted to pay Swayman "what he's worth" they could have taken him to arbitration and had a neutral third party determine that.

They failed to do that, traded their other starting goalie and now Swayman and his agent have them over a barrel. Swayman is "worth" whatever he can get.

 

[strattonius]

Doesn’t sound like that’s what they’re asking for. Boston can fit 9.5M under the cap this year with minimal roster moves. His agent should be fighting as hard as possible for that number.

At this point they've fought a bit too hard. We are almost through pre-season here. I think most people feel 8x8 is an excellent contract for Swayman. 9.5 is getting absurd.

 

[AKL]

Because the Bruins wouldn't be able to fit 13M under the cap for this season. They can fit up to 9.5M pretty easily.

This is irrelevant

Swayman clearly doesn't have the Bruins "over a barrel" because if he did they'd have given him what his agent is asking for

I think it's pretty clear that what's actually happening here is that Swayman's agent overplayed his hand and is currently finding out that they don't have all the leverage in this situation

 

[nbwingsfan]

I think asset wise Swayman was the right choice, but I firmly believe that Lewis Gross screwed over the Bruins in revenge for the Krug negotiations breaking down. 90% sure that Swayman's team indicated to Sweeney that they were in the same ballpark for numbers and would be an easy sign, assuring them that they could make the Ullmark trade, and then when they traded Linus, Gross comes back and and jacks up his asking number now that they have the leverage of Boston not having the other #1 goalie.

I don’t think that’s what he did, I think he’s just plainly a very greedy agent

 

[Hodge]

This is irrelevant

Of course it's relevant. Agents use cap space as leverage in negotiations all the time. Everyone knows exactly how much the Bruins can afford to pay Swayman this season without undergoing major roster surgery. His agent's job is to get him as much of that money as possible.

 

[AKL]

Of course it's relevant. Agents use cap space as leverage in negotiations all the time. Everyone knows exactly how much the Bruins can afford to pay Swayman this season without undergoing major roster surgery. His agent's job is to get him as much of that money as possible.

Then why isn't he asking for all 9.5M?

I already explained why. Because there's a line that doesn't make sense to hold out beyond. They're at that line. Sign the contract.

 

[Hodge]

Then why isn't he asking for all 9.5M?

I already explained why. Because there's a line that doesn't make sense to hold out beyond. They're at that line. Sign the contract.

They did ask for all 9.5M. The 32 Thoughts report claimed Swayman's initial ask was Charlie McAvoy's contract (8x9.5).

It's not holding out when you don't have a contract. Continued negotiations also cuts both ways. The longer Swayman is unsigned, the longer Boston is trotting out Joonas Korpisalo and Brandon Bussi in net trying to make the playoffs in a hyper-competitive division.

 

[AKL]

They did ask for all 9.5M. The 32 Thoughts report claimed Swayman's initial ask was Charlie McAvoy's contract (8x9.5).

It's not holding out when you don't have a contract. Continued negotiations also cuts both ways. The longer Swayman is unsigned, the longer Boston is trotting out Joonas Korpisalo and Brandon Bussi in net trying to make the playoffs in a hyper-competitive division.

That's what holding out is. They are holding out for more money. They're about to start losing money because of it.

 

[Fatass]

At this point they've fought a bit too hard. We are almost through pre-season here. I think most people feel 8x8 is an excellent contract for Swayman. 9.5 is getting absurd.

Doesn’t it really matter what “people” think is a fair number for Swayman? He’s got two years until UFA. He’s the Bruins most important player. He’s a brilliant goalie.
He’s worth 8 now and 10-11 for his UFA years. So 80 million is fair.

 

[Hodge]

That's what holding out is. They are holding out for more money. They're about to start losing money because of it.

Holding out means withholding services. You can't withhold services from an entity you have no contractual obligations toward.

Before the salary cap, players under contract used to legitimately hold out, refusing to report due to a trade request or some other reason. That doesn't really happen anymore.

I feel like people are overlooking the fact that Swayman is 25. An 8 year deal buys his entire prime. This isn't a Hellebuyck situation where the Jets are paying for his decline years.

 

[AKL]

Holding out means withholding services. You can't withhold services from an entity you have no contractual obligations toward.

Before the salary cap players under contract would legitimately hold out, refusing to report due to a trade request or some other reason. That doesn't really happen anymore.

I feel like people are overlooking the fact that Swayman is 25. An 8 year deal buys his entire prime. This isn't a Hellebuyck situation where the Jets are paying for his decline years.

I like that you've resorted to the part where you're just being pedantic now instead of making intelligent points about the topic

 

[VanIsle]

He's the dumbest person in the world if he doesn't sign tomorrow.

Every regular season game he misses is close to $100,000 lost.

Doesnt take much time at that rate to lose a lot of salary while defaming yourself and losing valuable games played.

 

[Hodge]

He's the dumbest person in the world if he doesn't sign tomorrow.

Every regular season game he misses is close to $100,000 lost.

Doesnt take much time at that rate to lose a lot of salary while defaming yourself and losing valuable games played.

Even if Swayman misses every game through Dec 1 it's still worth it to him as long as he gets the Bruins to improve their offer by more than ~$2.5M in total dollars over the life of the contract.

 

[Breakers]

Every single former player says they are on swyamans side in him going after his money

Yet they all agree that 8x8 is insanely generous for what he deserves

 

[AlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

who wants to acquire him and go through the same nonsense crud.

no one. just wondering how f*cked the situation is

 

[CannonFire1]

8x8 would make him the 5th most expensive goalie in the league if my calculations are correct in terms of AAV.

Bobrovsky - 10M
Vasilevsky - 9.5M
Hellebuyck - 8.5M
Sorokin - 8.25M

Now the cap % obviously factors in for some of those older contracts, but still...

There's a big drop after Sorokin to Gibson at 6.4M.

Two of those contracts were signed 5 years ago (Bob and Vasi). Hellebuyck was 30 when he signed. The cap is expected to go up significantly. Swayman has every right to ask for $8M+. It's not his fault Boston put him in a timeshare.

 

[TheBeard]

If Sway is only interested in squeezing Boston for every penny they can fit under the cap then he’s clearly not interested in winning.

If he thinks his best option is to wait it out in the hopes that Korpisalo falters then he’s got way too inflated an opinion of himself and absolutely zero respect for the team that’s played in front of him the last two years. He’s basically saying “I’m the one that’s the leading this team. Not the defense in front of me or the system Monty’s put in place. Me me me.”

What a narcissist.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

I like that you've resorted to the part where you're just being pedantic now instead of making intelligent points about the topic

Idk I think that’s a pretty important distinction. A player who holds out isn’t living up to an agreement he previously agreed to. It’s unfair to stigmatize someone as a “holdout” if that’s not in fact the case.

 

[PB37]

Swayman is a moron if he doesn't take the proposed offer.

$97561 is the amount per game he will lose out on if offered $8 million per year for ease of numbers.

Missing time will hurt his progression, and who would want to take this guy on in the future.

Kids wrecking his future.....


I would walk away from him right now, get what you can and let him and Gross be losers together.

Embarrassing. . . .

You ain't worth that much bud.

He will never be in the top 5 behind another team....


Good luck bud.....

Oct 15th is the first paycheck of the year. We'll see if it makes him sweat when he gets nothing in the mail.

 

[wolfgaze]

His agent's job is to get him as much of that money as possible.

The agents job is to do the will/bidding of the client he is representing - not to perpetually demand the highest dollar value he can extract from the organization. Making unreasonable contract demands is a great way to burn the relationship between the client and the organization in question - which is detrimental for the client who wishes to re-sign with said organization.

If agents do nothing but chase maximum dollars they will end up getting a lot of their clients traded to locations/organizations that may not be desirable at all for their clients. Not a good look.

 

[AKL]

Idk I think that’s a pretty important distinction. A player who holds out isn’t living up to an agreement he previously agreed to. It’s unfair to stigmatize someone as a “holdout” if that’s not in fact the case.

Can we move on now?

@Hodge you cool to move on?