The contract dispute between the Boston Bruins and restricted free agent Jeremy Swayman escalated on Monday when the goaltender's agent, Lewis Gross, strongly refuted the team's claims about the offer it made.
During Monday's season-opening press conference, team president Cam Neely suggested that the Bruins had offered Swayman a $64 million contract, indicating that he and his representatives had not yet come to an agreement on those terms.
Cam Neely expressed his belief that Swayman wants to continue playing in Boston, but he added that it is “unfortunate” the deal has not been finalized yet.
“I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now,” said the Bruins president.
Jeremy Swayman's agent firing back after Cam Neely's comments
Swayman has been absent from training camp while negotiating for a new contract. His agent, Lewis Gross, responded to the Bruins on Monday night, challenging the contract figures while also voicing his disappointment over the team's decision to discuss them publicly.
“Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media,” Gross said via NHL insider, Chris Johnston. “However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client. At today's press conference, $64 million was referenced. That was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level.”
“We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here,” Swayman’s agent continued.
The Bruins chose not to respond to Gross' remarks when approached by ESPN's Kristen Shilton, stating that they “respectfully passed” on the opportunity to comment.
Swayman was expected to assume the role of the Bruins' No. 1 goalie after the offseason trade that sent Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators.
The Swayman-Ullmark combo ranked as the NHL's top duo over the last three seasons, contributing to the Boston Bruins achieving the lowest goals-against average (2.49) during that time. However, general manager Don Sweeney noted that they needed to part ways due to concerns regarding salary cap constraints and playing time.
The Bruins failure to secure Swayman before trading Linus Ullmark
“We made a decision to chart a course. Both goaltenders asked to play 55 games. That's not possible if you're playing on the same team,” Sweeney discussed the Ullmark trade that brought Joonas Korpisalo to Boston, highlighting the strategic reasons behind the decision.
“We decided to make a decision. We were comfortable going forward with Jeremy,” he continued.
Sweeney received criticism for failing to secure a new deal for Swayman before trading Ullmark, which diminished the team's leverage in negotiations. While the general manager insisted that the trade and contract discussions “are not connected,” he did not share details about the status of negotiations with Swayman at the time of Ullmark's trade.
Swayman enters his fifth NHL season boasting a record of 79 wins, 33 losses, and 15 overtime losses, along with a .919 save percentage and a 2.34 goals-against average.
Last season, Jeremy Swayman earned $3.475 million on a one-year contract awarded through arbitration. This offseason, he chose not to file for arbitration, and the Bruins opted not to take him to arbitration, leaving the negotiations for his next contract to general manager Don Sweeney and agent Lewis Gross.
Reports indicate that the Bruins proposed an eight-year contract, the maximum length permitted by the NHL, to Swayman. Meanwhile, his camp is seeking an average annual value exceeding $9.5 million for his next deal.
If successful, that would place him alongside Andrei Vasilevskiy with the third-highest cap hit among NHL goaltenders, trailing only Montreal's Carey Price at $10.5 million and Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky at $10 million.
Follow Us
Subscribe
