As arduous and dramatic as the negotiation was, Lewis Gross almost welcomed it.
Yes, the veteran agent was under immense pressure as he grinded out a tough contract for his client Jeremy Swayman with the Boston Bruins over the past month.
But given the emotions Gross has felt as the agent for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and his bond to that grieving family, the timing of that Swayman negotiation was a welcome change of pace. Even as Gross also continues to mourn.
“You know, it was actually therapeutic in a way, to be honest,” Gross told The Athletic on Monday. “After the funeral on the Monday (Sept. 9), I went to Boston on Wednesday to meet with (Bruins general manager) Don Sweeney and Jeremy as well. It allowed me to get back and do what I love to do and maybe took my mind off it a little bit. Which I think I needed.
“Between the wake and the funeral, it was obviously an incredibly emotional few days. Not to mention getting the call on that Thursday night (Aug. 29) about what had happened to them.”
That’s a call Gross will never, ever forget.
But turning his attention to the Swayman negotiation post-funeral was also something he knew Johnny and Matthew would have wanted him to take on right away.
“Knowing John and Matt as well as I did, and having been around that family for close to 20 years, I know that’s what they would have wanted me to do,” Gross said. “They would say, ‘Go do your job. Go help Jeremy the way you helped me.’
“So it actually was therapeutic and motivating at the same time.”
The business of the game carries on, despite the hockey world still mourning.
And what a grind of a negotiation it ended up being with the Bruins. It was a process no one will forget soon.
Not that it was surprising it went the way it did. Boston has protected its salary cap culture for years. And goalies have been under financial duress for a few years now. So Gross was fighting an uphill climb trying to get his client in a place financially that the Bruins never imagined early on.
Calling it a “difficult negotiation,” Gross acknowledged that counter-goalie-market pressure was a big part of it.
“We weren’t trying to create a new market for goalies, but we just feel that the goaltenders need to be treated in a certain fashion,” Gross said. “They’re a very important position in this game. That’s in a lot of ways a new concept. So it took some time for both sides to be able to express their feelings on that.
“I’ve known Don Sweeney a really long time, I’ve known him well before he was a general manager. Our relationship has always been good. It will always continue to be good. It was an open dialogue at all times, in terms of just trying to understand each other’s concepts.”
Plus, Swayman at 25 is younger than most other top goalies who have signed big extensions the last few years.
“As Don pointed out a few times to me, this was a hybrid contract,” Gross said. “It was two years of RFA, and six years of UFA. Connor Hellebuyck was a UFA deal. (Ilya) Sorokin was a UFA deal. So it really stood alone, especially at his age, 25.”
It’s a contract going from age 25 to 33, as opposed to 30 to 37 for some of the older goalies.
“So I think that was a factor that had to be talked about and understood from both sides,” Gross said.
One week ago, this didn’t feel particularly close when Bruins president Cam Neely made his $64 million declaration and Gross refuted it.
But you might be surprised at how Gross said that back and forth impacted the negotiation.
“In a lot of ways, it jump-started these negotiations,” Gross said. “Because we talked a lot. We both had to express ourselves, Don and I, about what we had just experienced. And having done this for over 30 years, any time you have a chance to speak, you have a chance to come to a resolution.
“If you don’t speak, you’re not going to get a resolution. So I think (Neely’s declaration) in a lot of ways jump-started these negotiations and helped us get it to the finish line.”
Which ended up being $66 million, not $64 million.
By any measure, as The Athletic’s Bruins beat writer Fluto Shinzawa put it Sunday in his piece, Swayman won.
To have this kind of negotiation where one is going against the grain with the goalie market, you need a client willing to hang in there.
“None of this happens without Jeremy,” Gross said. “He’s just a really good guy. He’s articulate, he says what he feels. And you know, if he doesn’t believe in this whole process and the concepts him and I discussed, none of this happens. It just doesn’t. It comes from his family. It comes from him.
“A lot of the credit really goes to Jeremy. It really does.”
There’s pressure now that comes with that contract, of course.
But one gets the sense Swayman will thrive off that.
Speaking of goalie salaries
How good does that Juuse Saros extension look now for Nashville? Geez.
Eight years at a $7.74 million average annual value for a guy with a deeper No. 1 pedigree than Swayman — I mean, it’s hard to look at that now and not believe the Predators have a tremendous bargain on their hands.
The caveat there is that all eight-year contracts for veteran goalies carry risk. Saros will be 30 when the extension kicks in next season and will be 38 when it expires in the summer of 2033, so of course there’s a chance the position that puts so much duress on hips and knees may not allow his contract to age perfectly.
But imagine for a moment what that number would look like for Saros had the Predators waited until later this season to engage in talks — post-Swayman contract and potentially post-mega-monster extension for Igor Shesterkin (a new salary which will start with an 11 or 12).
Tip of the hat to Preds GM Barry Trotz for getting ahead of it.
But also I think a lot of NHL goalies owe Gross and Swayman a big thank you. The goalie market perhaps just took a turn north.
4 Nations deadline
Seven and a half weeks.
That’s the window the 4 Nations Face-Off teams have left to evaluate roster decisions ahead of a Nov. 29-t0-Dec. 2 window to announce full rosters. And vice-versa, that’s the window left for bubble players to make their cases.
It’s not a lot of time.
Don’t get me wrong: Sweden, Finland, Canada and the United States could name 80 percent of their rosters today and not blink an eye. (All four teams named their original six players back in June. Here they are for Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland.)
But for those final bubble decisions, especially for deeper NHL pools like Canada and the U.S., it would have been nice for the management teams to have more than seven and a half weeks of regular-season games to further put guys under the microscope. Especially given that the best-on-best event doesn’t start until Feb. 12.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged last week after the Board of Governors meeting that some of the 4 Nations GMs were lamenting the early roster-submission deadline. But it’s not changing.
“The date in our agreement is Dec. 2,” Daly said. “We do think we might be able to move that up by a couple of days. Having said that, I understand some of the managers from the 4 Nations teams actually want us to move it back. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Because I think the (NHL) Players’ Association has a pretty strong interest in making it as early as possible so that players can make plans.”
Still, all four teams will be able to name injury replacements in that two-month period between the full roster announcements and puck drop.
“You can replace players for bona fide injuries up to and including Feb. 12,” Daly confirmed.
The early roster deadline is especially impactful on Team Canada’s goaltending decision. That’s certainly one spot that Sweeney, the team’s GM, would have liked to have as much time as possible in deciding, no doubt, given Canada’s lack of true depth at the position.
But I can assure you when Canada does name its three goalies around Dec. 2, it will not tip its hand as to the particular hierarchy of those three guys. That decision will go right to Feb. 12. “Ride the hot hand” will be the mantra.
Prediction time
A year ago on the eve of the NHL regular season, I picked a Toronto Maple Leafs–Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Final with the Oilers winning it all.
My revised prediction before the playoffs commenced was Florida Panthers-Edmonton Oilers with the Oilers still winning it all.
So I was wrong twice but nibbled around the edges, I guess!
My Cup prediction for this season: New Jersey Devils-Dallas Stars Cup Final, with Dallas winning it all.
Picking a team that missed the playoffs last season to make the Cup Final is a bit bold, but man, was there a better offseason “fit” move than the Devils finally getting their goalie in Jacob Markstrom? I don’t think so.
I do also like Toronto and Edmonton to reach their respective conference finals. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the Oilers get right back to the Cup Final if it’s not the Stars.
The Leafs? I thought GM Brad Treliving had a solid offseason. That blue line is much better. And I believe in goalie Joseph Woll.
But I’m also a Dallas Cowboys fan, so yeah, I understand the pitfalls of picking the Leafs to prove everyone wrong.
The Stars have been knocking at the door. I feel good about them as my Cup pick. One comment that sticks out to me from my chat with Dallas GM Jim Nill last month was this: “I look at our team right now compared to last year at this time, I think we’re a better team. Now, we didn’t have Chris Tanev yet then at this time last year. But right now I think we’re a better team depth-wise.”
Would I feel better about the Stars had they been able to keep Tanev? Sure. But one thing we know about the back-to-back GM of the Year Award winner: He will make his move before the March 7 deadline to be sure.
(Photo of Jeremy Swayman: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
