The Bruins' $3.475 million blunder from Jeremy Swayman

BOSTON – On August 1, 2023, two days after their arbitration hearing in Toronto with Jeremy Swayman, the Boston Bruins received the decision. Swayman received an award of $3.475 million.

Swayman filed for arbitration on July 5. The same was true for Trent Frederic and Ian Mitchell. The latter two accepted settlements before their hearings.

Because the players requested arbitration in all three cases, the club had the choice of either a one-year or two-year award.

The Bruins chose the former with Swayman. Looking back, they made the wrong decision.

Things have gone so wrong that Lewis Gross, Swayman's agent, is calling President Cam Neely's $64 million declaration a lie. Whether a cooling-off period allows Swayman to reset and study the situation without emotion is unknown. It is now clear how deeply the hearing affected Swayman to his core.

“Having walked out the door as a player and knowing the process from both sides, it's uncomfortable, to be quite honest,” general manager Don Sweeney said of the arbitration on Oct. 9, 2023, before the start of 2023 – 24 season. “It’s just uncomfortable. They hope to avoid it. You don't see many people leaving. If you do this, just make sure you 100 percent separate the business and personal sides of things. You try to recognize that there are a lot of lawyers on both sides who are trying to position themselves accordingly.”

Hard feelings after the arbitration process were inevitable. But this current clash could have been avoided if the Bruins had opted for the two-year award.

It would have pushed the negotiating position back a season and pegged Swayman at $3.475 million for 2024-25 — a no-brainer considering his price tag more than doubled.

The Bruins opted for a one-year award largely because their opinion of the goaltender's value, which they discovered during pre-hearing negotiations, differed significantly from Swayman's view. It seems that a year later nothing has changed.

“The fact that we couldn't find common ground on a multi-year deal was probably the first indication that that would be the best route,” Sweeney said last October when asked why he chose a one-year deal have.

Sweeney had a second reason for choosing a one-year award. For Swayman, it was a sign of goodwill that he would re-enter the market a year later with a chance to make money. The Bruins hoped Swayman would remember the gesture when they revisited the negotiating table.

“It puts Jeremy back in a really good situation,” the GM continued. “Because we expect him to be a top goaltender and contender even though he carries a Vezina winner with the shotgun. The way Jeremy is wired, he feels just as good, if not better, and wants to be the go-to guy. So these are good problems to solve and have motivated players who have both confidence and talent. This is a good thing for us as an organization, especially in such a key position.”

The Bruins believed they were giving Swayman a big break after a damning hearing by opting for a one-year award. In hindsight, it was a mistake.

By this point the damage had already been done.

Had they stuck with their purely business-oriented, cut-throat approach, they would have accepted a two-year award. Swayman would have had no choice but to eat it and revisit the issue in 2025. He would still have been under the team's control.

It was a mistake. The Bruins are paying for it.

(Photo by Don Sweeney: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)