BREAKING> Star goalie is certain he’ll stay with the Boston Bruins
This summer’s negotiations between goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins have been among the more obviously challenging ones. Although neither Boston nor Swayman chose to pursue salary arbitration this offseason, the club might have experienced a shock to the system following the hockey community’s viewing of the St. Louis Blues’ offer sheets to two Edmonton Oilers players a few days prior.
Swayman stated earlier this week in an interview on NESN that he is certain he will stay with the Bruins, so it doesn’t seem like he is concerned about not having a contract at this time.
“The level of confidence is high. I say this because, this year, I’ve approached things as normal,” Swayman added. “I’ve been at Warrior, where I’ve been working out among our players, staff, and guys. Additionally, I’m quite enthused about the knowledge that something unique is developing in this locker room this year. All I can control is how I’m going to improve as a goalie for the Boston Bruins this season; I know that everything else will take care of itself in due course. That’s all I have on my mind, then. I’m thrilled to be a Bruin and I know that everything will work out once more.”
The Bruins won’t have a cap space problem with these negotiations because, according to PuckPedia, they still own about $8.6 million. Swayman’s contract would only become a significant salary cap issue if a team adopted St. Louis’ strategy and signed Swayman to an offer sheet that exceeded their existing allocation.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet contended earlier this week on “32 Thoughts” that Swayman and the Bruins weren’t close to reaching an agreement on a new contract and that the talks had been difficult. Although the precise cause of the conflict is unknown, Swayman’s camp may have overestimated the rookie netminder’s importance up to this moment.
Not that Swayman hasn’t been a superb goalie thus far in his career; rather, he has primarily shared the nett with Linus Ullmark. He will make his debut as the unquestioned starting netminder in the 2024–25 season if a deal is finalized between the two parties. With Ullmark sharing the net during the 2021–22 campaign, Swayman has only started 46.7% of Boston’s regular-season games.
As a result, Evolving Hockey estimates that Swayman will sign a four-year deal with an average yearly value of $6.25 million. If the Bruins can sign him to a long-term contract, he might make closer to $7 million. Boston would have plenty of cap space to acquire players during the season with a similar contract. Despite the arguments being made by Swayman’s team, he hasn’t yet shown himself to be on the same level as Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck, or Igor Shesterkin.