Since Don Sweeney has been general manager (GM) of the Boston Bruins, very few restricted free agents (RFAs) have reached an arbitration hearing. That changed with goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Swayman and the team were far apart in terms of what a new contract should look like as Swayman’s camp filed at $4.8 million and the Bruins at $2 million according to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman. Teams can negotiate with the player right up until the hearing and strike a deal, but that did not happen in this case. The hearing was held and the ruling came down Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 1) and as expected, it came almost right in the middle of where the team and player were at for $3.475 million.
The Deal is a Win-Win for Swayman & the Bruins
Considering the cap situation the Bruins are in, this is a win-win deal for both Swayman and Sweeney. It eats up the remaining cap space they had after they reached a deal earlier in the day with Trent Frederic to avoid his hearing on Thursday (Aug. 3). Frederic agreed to a two-year, $4.6 million contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $2.3 million.
Swayman was looking for a bigger and longer deal, but Sweeney gets what he wants, a one-year deal on a good number. Now, the Bruins have to look ahead to the 2024 offseason and they are projected to have a lot more money available to pay their goalie with a bigger and longer deal. Boston has several contracts coming off of the books after the 2023-24 season. Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, and Matt Grzelcyk are just a few of the names that will be free agents and those three will open up $10.687 million on Sweeney’s books to add to a roster that will begin the second year with their new core group after Patrice Bergeron retired on July 25.
Swayman Gets What He Deserved
After the arbiter ruling, the Bruins now have $8.475 million locked up in goal with Swayman and Linus Ullmark. The duo deserves their payday after the 2022-23 season they had and it will be hard for either of them to top what they did this upcoming season.
Last season, Swayman went 24-6-4 with a 2.27 goals against average (GAA) and a .920 save percentage (SV%) and he shared the Jennings Trophy with Ullmark who went 40-6-1 with a 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV% on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy. In his career which has been three years, Swayman is 54-23-7 with a 2.24 GAA and a .920 SV%.
In the end, Swayman overpriced himself at $4.8 million, and with the ruling coming back nearly right down the middle, it’s a very fair deal. The key for the Bruins is to keep the former University of Maine standout happy as he will more than likely split the next two seasons with Ullmark, then take over on a full-time basis in three years. He got a raw deal from the Bruins in the playoffs, being forced to play Game 7 against the Florida Panthers as his only appearance in the series. He did what he could to help the Presidents Trophy winners try to advance, but he could have played earlier in the series if first-year coach Jim Montgomery made the switch a game or two earlier as Ullmark was clearly not himself as the series went on battling an injury.
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The Bruins roster appears to be set heading into training camp in September, but it would not be surprising to see Sweeney make a trade to acquire a top-six center to replace Bergeron. Earlier in the offseason, splitting up the goaltending duo of Swayman and Ullmark could have been an option and may have been after the ruling on Swayman, but now, it’s unlikely to happen as Boston appears to be building from the goaltending out, which is not a bad decision considering the season they just had. With the cap situation the Black and Gold are in, this is a win-win deal for the player and the team.