Jeremy Swayman has signed an eight-year, $8.25 million average-annual-value contract extension to return to the Boston Bruins, the team announced Sunday morning. The 25-year-old goalie was a restricted free agent and is now the fourth-highest-paid active goalie in the NHL, tied with the Islanders’ Ilya Sorkin, per CapWages.
The deal includes more than $20 million in signing bonuses, league sources tell The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
The agreement ends a negotiation that exploded after team president Cam Neely declared he’d have 64 million reasons to sign if he were the goalie. Lewis Gross, Swayman’s agent, responded that there had never been a $64 million offer.
The agreement defines Swayman, for the first time in his career, as the Bruins’ No. 1 goaltender — for today and tomorrow. For the past three seasons, Swayman shared the net with Linus Ullmark. Swayman’s postseason surge against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers helped to convince Boston to trade Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators.
The Bruins also explored moving Ullmark prior to the 2024 trade deadline, partly because they were confident Swayman could be their long-term starter.
Swayman’s .933 playoff save percentage is the latest signal he is ready to become one of the NHL’s elite goalies. According to The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn, Swayman’s projected value is $11 million annually over an eight-year term. Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million annually) is currently the NHL’s highest-paid goalie.
Swayman’s $8.25 million average annual value is well above his previous of $3.475 million, which he claimed in a contentious arbitration hearing last year. Swayman’s appearance on Amazon’s “Faceoff: Inside the NHL” documentary series confirmed hard feelings remained from the hearing. In retrospect, given the length and nature of the disagreement, the Bruins should have elected a two-year award.
Swayman’s new salary puts him among the league’s standard bearers: Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million), Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5 million) and Sorokin ($8.25 million). Bobrovsky, Hellebuyck and Sorokin signed their deals as they were due to become unrestricted free agents. Swayman was restricted.
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