Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The contract standoff between the Boston Bruins and restricted free agent Jeremy Swayman reached a brand new degree of contentiousness Monday as the goaltender's agent emphatically pushed again on what the group claimed it had provided him.
Swayman, 25, opted not to attend Bruins coaching camp and not using a new contract. Coach Jim Montgomery mentioned that goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is predicted to begin the Bruins' season opener Oct. 8 vs. the Florida Panthers.
At a preseason information convention Monday in Boston, group president Cam Neely mentioned he believes Swayman desires to play in Boston however that it is “unfortunate” a deal is not but accomplished.
“I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is,” he mentioned, “but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now.”
Swayman's agent Lewis Gross shot again on the Bruins on Monday evening, disputing these contract numbers whereas expressing disappointment within the group discussing them.
“Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media,” Gross mentioned in an announcement on Instagram. “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,” Gross continued. “We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”
The Bruins “respectfully passed” on addressing Gross' feedback when contacted by ESPN's Kristen Shilton.
Neely expressed shock over Swayman's asking value, saying he believes Swayman desires to reset the goalie market together with his contract.
“What his ask is, and what we believe his comp group is, are two different things,” Neely mentioned.
Swayman is predicted to be the first beginning goaltender for the Bruins after they traded goalie Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators within the offseason. That duo was the NHL's finest tandem over the previous three seasons, serving to the Bruins to the bottom goals-against common (2.49) in that span. But common supervisor Don Sweeney mentioned the duo had to be damaged up out of wage cap and enjoying time considerations.
“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 mentioned of the Ullmark commerce, which introduced Korpisalo to Boston. “We decided to make a decision. We were comfortable going forward with Jeremy. We knew what the likely return would be for Linus.”
Sweeney has been criticized for not having Swayman locked into a brand new deal earlier than buying and selling Ullmark, thus impacting the group's leverage. The common supervisor mentioned the commerce and the negotiation “are not connected,” however declined to elaborate on the place talks with Swayman have been when Ullmark was traded.
“I don't regret that decision one bit, in terms of the decision we made to move forward and attack some of the areas we could benefit from in the free agent market,” Sweeney mentioned.
Swayman is coming into his fifth NHL season. He has a report of 79-33-15, with a .919 save share and a 2.34 goals-against common.
Swayman made $3.475 million on a one-year contract final season, which was awarded by arbitration. He opted not to file for arbitration this offseason and the Bruins declined to take Swayman to arbitration, leaving his subsequent contract to be determined by negotiations between Sweeney and Gross.
There have been experiences that the Bruins provided Swayman an eight-year contract, the utmost size the NHL permits. There have additionally been experiences that Swayman's camp is in search of upwards of $9.5 million in common annual worth on his subsequent contract. That would tie him with Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy for the third highest cap hit within the NHL for goaltenders, behind Montreal's Carey Price ($10.5 million) and Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million).
Sweeney mentioned earlier at Bruins coaching camp that he anticipated Swayman would rejoin the group earlier than Dec. 1, which is the deadline for the contract to be legitimate for this season.
