If Bruins do not pay Jeremy Swayman, it can torpedo their season

If Bruins don’t pay Jeremy Swayman, it will torpedo their season initially appeared on NBC Sports Boston

For 3 years, the Bruins rostered two of one of the best goalies within the NHL. Proper now they’ve neither.

If this was Don Sweeney’s plan, then to quote Black Widow’s little sister: “Your plan sucks.”

The Bruins opened camp on Thursday with neither Linus Ullmark nor Jeremy Swayman in web. They traded the former in order to hand the keys to the latter whereas yeah-yeah-yeahing away one tiny element: Swayman’s a restricted free agent. And it seems negotiations aren’t going nicely.

WEEI’s Rich Keefe reports that Swayman needs $10 million a yr and the Bruins aren’t prepared to pay him greater than $8 million. That sounds surmountable for those who comply with baseball, the place $8 million will get you a very good center reliever, but it surely would possibly as nicely be the nice wall of Westeros in a hard-capped sport like hockey.

The only two goalies making at least $10 million annually are Montreal’s Carey Value and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky. Each have received the Vezina Trophy, whereas Bobrovsky simply backstopped the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup.

For convoluted causes distinctive to hockey, it is not Swayman’s turn to make that kind of dough. But when ever a participant have been positioned to problem a system which prioritizes previous efficiency over future projection, it is the UMaine grad.

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The Bruins, in spite of everything, are legit Cup contenders, because of Sweeney’s in any other case stable offseason. He added two-way center Elias Lindholm and bruising defenseman Nikita Zadorov to handle a scarcity of physicality that doomed the B’s within the second spherical vs. the Panthers. After years of standard season success that did not translate to the playoffs, the Bruins abruptly look constructed to win subsequent spring.

That optimism evaporates with out Swayman, which is why I do not purchase the argument that the Bruins maintain all of the leverage.

There isn’t any approach they wish to gamble their season on the untested Brandon Bussi and/or declining Joonas Korpisalo, just because Boston’s goalie platoon technically denied Swayman the chance to be a full-time No. 1 and thus make No. 1 cash. He certain appeared the half final spring vs. the Maple Leafs and Panthers, when the Bruins handed him the reins. He’s broadly thought-about a top-10 expertise, so pay him like one.

The Bruins are too good all over the place else to only wing it in web, which provides Swayman appreciable energy. Coach “Goalie Bob” Essensa has labored his share of miracles, however ranging from scratch three weeks earlier than the opener feels sub-optimal. The Bruins comprehend it, and Swayman undoubtedly does, too.

The B’s can counter that if Swayman would not signal by Dec. 1 — a date Sweeney invoked multiple times during Wednesday’s combative press conference — then he’ll miss the season, which does not enhance anybody’s bargaining place.

Veiled threats are one strategy to strategy the negotiation, I suppose, however it will be extra productive to safe Swayman to a contract that displays his price, quite than taking part in hardball and costing him worthwhile prep time for the season. As it’s, the Bruins are already damaging their relationship with the Alaska native, who’s nonetheless smarting from final yr’s contentious arbitration listening to. Let this drag on too lengthy, and all people loses.

Moreover, if the Bruins wished value certainty, they need to’ve simply stored Ullmark, who nonetheless had one yr remaining on the $20 million extension he signed in 2021. However they acknowledged the 25-year-old Swayman had surpassed him, in order that they selected expertise over comfort and traded the 31-year-old to Ottawa.

It was exhausting to fault the logic, which made sense in the event that they deliberate on paying Swayman. And possibly they nonetheless will, like earlier holdouts David Pastrňák and Charlie McAvoy, who arrived inside days of the primary apply.

The 2 sides really feel extra entrenched this time, and that is scary. Assuming the $10 million ask is just a negotiating tactic, there’s room for the Bruins to get uncomfortable. What is the worst that occurs in the event that they break with precedent and overpay their franchise goalie?

If Swayman’s nearly as good as they clearly imagine, then they will have locked up one of the necessary positions on the ice for six-plus years. Even $9 million yearly will ultimately really feel like a discount because the cap rises.

The choice is taking this factor into the season, the place it can fester. In that case, the Bruins ought to brace for the results and put together to defend how their plan was truly no plan in any respect.