Bruins are still trying to fill the void on Swayman's contract

BOSTON – Seven days remain until the Boston Bruins' season opener against the Florida Panthers on October 8th. The starter in goal will not currently be Jeremy Swayman.

That's because the Bruins and Swayman have not yet agreed to a contract for this season and beyond, as the goaltender is a restricted free agent who is not participating in training camp.

Bruins president Cam Neely provided insight into the process on Monday.

“I don't want to go into too much detail with his request, but I know I have 64 million reasons why I would play right now,” Neely said at TD Garden.

The $64 million figure likely represents an eight-year offer at $8 million per season, which would put Swayman behind four goaltenders in annual salary: Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders.

Swayman played last season on a one-year, $3.475 million contract awarded to him by an independent arbitrator.

So were you surprised by Swayman's asking price?

“No,” said general manager Don Sweeney. “I would never blame a player for asking about his value.”

“I was surprised,” Neely interjected with a laugh.

Sweeney said there is a market for every player and he believes the Bruins are firmly in that group with their offer. Swayman is not yet a full-time NHL player and has never played more than 44 games in his four seasons in the league.

“I think overall Don has done a really good job of making initial offers to the players,” Neely said. “One of the things we talked about when he got the job was that as a former player, I'm not a big fan of low-ball, high-ball and somewhere in the middle. It's like, OK, take it. Get the right price, get the right price, put the right offer on the table.

“I firmly believe that Jeremy wants to play here. I asked him directly if you wanted to play here and he did. I believe they will get a deal. It is unfortunate that it cannot take place today.”

Asked if he thought Swayman was trying to reshape the goaltending market, Neely replied: “I do.

Later Monday, Lewis Gross, who represents Swayman, responded in an Instagram post that the Bruins did not offer his client a $64 million contract.

“I do not normally issue statements or discuss negotiations through the media,” Gross wrote. “However, in this case I feel I have to defend my client. At today's press conference the figure was 64 million US dollars. This was the first time this figure was discussed in our negotiations. No tangible offer was made before the press conference at this level.

“We are extremely disappointed. That wasn't fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss what happens next.”

In 132 games (125 starts) in the NHL, Swayman has a 79-33-15 record with a 2.34 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and 12 shutouts.

Over the past two seasons, goaltending has been the Bruins' clear strength, with the tandem of Swayman and Linus Ullmark in net. In the 2022–23 season, they won the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders in the NHL who allowed the fewest goals, and Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender.