The Boston Bruins signed Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year contract on Sunday that will pay him $66 million, getting their No. 1 goalie back on the ice and ending a contract standoff that approached the start of the regular season.
A restricted free agent, Swayman had missed all of training camp. The sides faced a Dec. 1 deadline for him to sign or sit out the entire season, a potential disaster for a team that last year had two top goalies — Swayman and 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark — rotating in the net until the beginning of the playoffs.
After serving as the No. 2 to Ullmark in Boston’s record-setting 2022-23 season, Swayman failed to come to terms on a long-term contract in the summer of 2023 and was awarded a $3.475 million deal in arbitration. He bristled at the process and said: “I don’t want to do it ever again.”
With his new $8.25 million average annual value, Swayman is tied with Ilya Sorokin for the fourth-highest AAV for a goaltender. He trails only Sergei Bobrovsky ($10M), Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5M) and Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5M).
“Hey fans, ‘Sway’ here,” Swayman said in a video posted by the Bruins to social media. “I’m so excited to be back. I cannot thank you for all of your support throughout this entire process, but we got a lot of new beginnings to start and I cannot wait to get going.”
The deal avoids a holdout that threatened to derail the season for the Original Six franchise that has had six (non-pandemic-shortened) 100-point seasons in a row but hasn’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since 2019.
Swayman alternated with Ullmark last year, making 43 starts in the regular season with a 2.53 goals-against average before winning the No. 1 job in the playoffs. The Bruins lost to eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida in the second round.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said signing Swayman in the offseason was his top priority, but he traded Ullmark away before locking up the 25-year-old from Alaska — timing that gave the player leverage in negotiations.
When training camp began in September, Swayman was still unsigned, and the sides had disagreed over the existence of a $64 million offer that team president Cam Neely referenced earlier this week.
The Bruins had Joonas Korpisalo, who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in the Ullmark trade, and 26-year-old Brandon Bussi, who played 41 games for Providence of the AHL last season, on the roster.
Coach Jim Montgomery said at the beginning of camp that he was treating Swayman’s absence like an injury: “It’s next man up.”
Korpisalo started 49 games for Ottawa last season with a 3.27 GAA. Boston also got a 2024 first-round draft pick, which they used on center Dean Letourneau, and forward Mark Kastelic in the deal.
Sweeney said Sunday that Korpisalo would still start Tuesday’s regular-season opener against the Panthers as had been planned before the Swayman deal was completed.
Information from The Associated Press and ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski was used in this report.
Source: www.espn.com