Boston Bruins
Bruins sign Jeremy Swayman to 8-year, $66 Million Deal
The Bruins found two million more reasons to sign goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced on Sunday, that the team signed the goaltender to an 8-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $8.25 million.
The $66,000,000 contract ended a months’ worth of prolonged negotiations, rumors and speculation, as both sides tried to hash out a deal.
“I’m so excited to be a Boston Bruin,” said Swayman. “That fact that we went through this process and the tools that I learned with it, it’s gone now. All that I care about is being a Bruin and the fact I can do that for eight years and instill myself as a leader and a true member of this city is all I care about right now. I couldn’t be happier.”
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— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 6, 2024
Swayman was expected to depart with the team for Florida on Sunday. The Bruins open the season Tuesday against the Panthers.
Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo was tabbed by Bruins coach Jim Montgomery as the game 1 starter. It remains to be seen if Swayman will serve as the backup.
“It’s a big day for the Boston Bruins and for Jeremy to be celebrating and moving forward,” said Sweeney. “We’re excited for him to be able to play here.”
According to Puckpedia, the deal leaves the Bruins with an estimated $386,667 in remaining cap space. And with PTO invitee Tyler Johnson still unsigned, several players still on the bubble, more roster juggling should be in the works between now and puck drop.
A restricted free agent, Swayman fell into a contractual stalemate with the team over the course of training camp, leading to many rumors and speculation.
Read: Boston Bruins Preseason Game 7 Takeaways: Bussi pushes for backup role
Things reached a boiling point on Monday, after Boston Bruins team president Cam Neely claimed, the goalie was trying to set the NHL marketplace for goaltenders. Neely went on to allude the team offered the goalie a $64 million dollar deal, something Swayman’s camp refuted later that day.
Both parties declined to go into specifics regarding that impasse.
“It was a day-by-day thing,” said Swayman. “It was a negotiation, and I respect the fact that you have to ask these questions, but what I’m truly focused on is the future, the here and now. Everything else is a blur in my mind. All I’m worried about is being in net for the Boston Bruins right now. I am overjoyed with it. I’m really excited about it.”
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound goaltender has played in 132 career NHL games, all with Boston, posting an overall record of 79-33-15 with a 2.34 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. He ranks fifth in franchise history in goals against average and fourth in save percentage.
Among active NHL goaltenders with a minimum of 25 games played in 2023-24, Swayman ranked in the top-10 in goals against average (8th) and save percentage (T-5th).
The 25-year-old was a 2024 NHL All-Star Game through a fan vote. In February 2024, he tallied a career-high 43 saves in the team’s 4-3 shootout win against the Dallas Stars.
Read: Swayman’s Agent Bites Back, Denies Claim By Neely And Bruins
In 2022, Swayman was named to the 2021-22 NHL All-Rookie Team, ranking first among rookie goaltenders with a minimum of 25 games played in wins (23), goals against average (2.41) and save percentage (.914).
The Anchorage, Alaska native was selected by Boston in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be in this position, 10-15 years ago, I never would have believed this was a reality in my world,” said Swayman. “The kid from Alaska standing right here in front of you is really happy. I’m beyond pleased to be a Bruin for eight more years.”
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 6, 2024
According to Sweeney, longterm deals such as Swayman’s can be time consuming but just comes with the territory.
“(David Pastrnak’s deal) went for a long period of time as well,” said Sweeney. “I think I’ve been pretty consistent in saying that every deal has its own timeline. There’s twists and turns. You hope there would be a straight and narrow path, but it just doesn’t always work out that way. And you have to be respectful and listen.”
“I think that’s part of this whole exercise of going through this whole negotiations,”‘ he added. “You have to be able to listen to what is important for the other party. Ultimately our plan was to negotiate a deal. We both agreed that the longest deal we could find, once we got to common ground, is what we were hoping for. That’s where it ended up.”
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