If Boston has burned the bridges with Swayman, something involving Demko?
As a concept—I think there is something to a Demko-for-Swayman swap.
There is the obvious mistrust between Boston and Swayman. And there seems to be
some mistrust too between Demko and management as well about his injuries and number of games played.
For Boston, I don’t think there is another goalie available on the market at the same level as Swayman or Demko. I imagine the way that the Bruins roster is constructed that they want to win-now and not take a futures package.
For Vancouver, I think they want more certainty in net rather than risk Demko being injured down the stretch for a third-year in a row when the games matter the most. They may have to pay more for goaltending these next two-years—but they wouldn’t necessarily need to carry a third goalie like they currently are either. The cap difference would be something they could navigate. They may also value that Swayman extended now for eight-years would be cheaper than extending a healthy and successful Demko in two seasons from now.
So while I see some logic to it… I doubt it happens. I think Demko’s ongoing LBI is a huge question mark and I don’t think any team would want to acquire that risk unless they had more certainty on his health going forward.