BRIGHTON, Mass. — For the past two-plus weeks, Jeremy Swayman made Boston University’s Agganis Arena his workplace. He had familiar faces as company.
Former Boston Bruins assistant Jay Pandolfo is in charge at BU. Ex-Bruins skills coach Kim Brandvold is on Pandolfo’s staff. Ken Whittier, who used to be the assistant performance coach with the Bruins, holds a similar position at BU. Swayman had never worked extensively with Brian Daccord, but the BU goalie coach helped keep his game in line. As for the Terriers, they were delighted to spend their days trying to put pucks behind Swayman.
But the Terriers are not the Bruins. Agganis is not Warrior Ice Arena. Swayman is a professional, not a collegian. If Swayman did not sign by Monday, the first of 192 official days of the 2024-25 NHL season, his first paycheck would have been reduced by 1/192 of his eventual salary.
Meanwhile, the Bruins were scheduled to depart on Sunday afternoon for South Florida ahead of Tuesday’s opener against the Florida Panthers. Swayman wanted to be on board.
“We’re here right now,” a beaming Swayman said on Sunday morning after agreeing to his eight-year, $66 million payday. “I’ve got a plane to catch in an hour. That’s all I care about. I couldn’t be more happy. It’s funny when you look at the big picture of things. Ten, 15 years ago, I would never have believed this would be a reality in my world. So a kid from Alaska standing right here in front of you is really happy and beyond pleased to be a Bruin for eight more years.”
The standoff is over. Swayman won.
The 25-year-old without a single regular season as a full-time NHL puckstopper is now the fourth-highest-paid active goalie in the league. Only Sergei Bobrovsky (two-time Vezina winner, one-time Stanley Cup champion), Andrei Vasilevskiy (one-time Vezina winner, two-time champion) and Connor Hellebuyck (two-time Vezina winner) earn more.
Giving Swayman $8.25 million annually over eight years stretched the Bruins beyond what they had forecast, at least for this season. If you have any doubt about that, ask general manager Don Sweeney how good he feels about the Bruins’ standing under the $88 million cap. As his first move, Sweeney placed Brandon Bussi and Jiří Patera on waivers Sunday.
“We’ve got some roster stuff to do as a result of that,” Sweeney said of signing his ace. “Yesterday I had some cap space. Today I don’t have as much. You unfortunately have to make some really hard roster decisions. But that’s part of the business too.”
It was critical for the Bruins to make Swayman know he had come out on top. It’s why they went beyond the $64 million president Cam Neely said on Sept. 30 the Bruins had committed to Swayman.
Swayman will pocket $66 million, which is further proof he got the last laugh when it comes to Neely’s truthful or fudged number. The latter, of course, is how agent Lewis Gross classified Neely’s statement. As for how Swayman felt about the flareup from six days earlier, he made it clear, albeit politely, that he did not care to disclose such things publicly.
Neither Swayman nor Sweeney, for that matter, wanted to revisit the Neely-Gross disagreement. What’s important for both employer and employee is that it produced a settlement.
Neely and coach Jim Montgomery made their points through the $64 million throwdown and the naming of Joonas Korpisalo as the Game 1 starter. The latter fact, Sweeney confirmed, will hold true come Tuesday even after Swayman’s signing.
Gross responded by essentially calling Neely a liar and declaring several days of cooldown. Both sides had their chances to clear their throats for the record.
“Specifics, albeit in our conversations, are important,” Sweeney said of his talks with Gross before and after Neely’s statement. “In the exterior and the narrative, they’re not as important.”
What Neely and Montgomery said and how Gross responded, in other words, was simply business. Critically, Swayman read it that way. He had taken things personally before, as he did with his 2023 arbitration hearing.
“Lewis was incredible in this entire process,” said Swayman. “It just goes to show what he would do to really protect me as his client, sticking his neck out and making sure everyone knew that some accusations are true and some are false. It’s not necessarily my job right here and right now to give you that answer. Obviously our team and our party know the truth. But at the same time, we found an agreement. The fact that I can be here for eight years gives me goosebumps saying that.”
Swayman has scored a $4.525 million raise over his $3.475 million arbitration award — a sum he could have been earning this season if the Bruins wanted.
Swayman has broken the mold for restricted-free-agent goalies. He has many more friends now, from Jake Oettinger to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Stuart Skinner. The first deal they’ll point to is Swayman’s when they make their cases for more dough. This was important for Swayman.
Perhaps by the latter half of Swayman’s contract, it will seem friendlier to the Bruins. By then, the cap could be over $100 million. Swayman could be the best goalie in the league.
But this is a deal Swayman can be proud of now. He took a stand. It paid off.
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
