What Swayman and Sweeney said about the Bruins’ contentious contract negotiations

Bruins

“We’re here right now. I have a plane to catch in an hour and that’s all I care about, man.”

Jeremy Swayman finally put pen to paper on his eight-year, $66 million contract extension on Sunday morning.

It was the end result of a contentious contractual rock fight between all parties involved.

Be it the sour mood created by an arbitration hearing last summer, a desire to reshape the goaltending market, a rising cap, the move of Linus Ullmark or several other factors, little progress was made on a new deal over the summer achieved.

Things finally reached a boiling point last week with the start of the regular season just over a week away.

Hours after Cam Neely suggested the Bruins put a $64 million offer on the table, Swayman’s agent – Lewis Gross – responded sharply on social media, stating that the $64 million was originally not due before the season-opening press conference were presented in Boston.

Amid reports of Swayman considering a trade request, cooler heads ultimately prevailed before the 25-year-old goaltender put the finishing touches on his massive new contract.

Neely made plenty of headlines last week with his candid comments, but Bruins general manager Don Sweeney pulled no punches when asked if last week’s events had changed the tenor of contract negotiations.

“There are twists and stuff. You hope for a straight and narrow path, but that just doesn’t always work out,” Sweeney said on Warrior Ice Arnea on Sunday. “You have to be respectful and listen, I think that’s part of this whole negotiation exercise. You have to learn to listen to what’s important.

“To me this is just an indication that both sides would like to find a deal. I don’t know if it necessarily moved things because we have deadlines anyway, assuming we want Jeremy in our lineup and then he wants to play hockey for the Boston Bruins, and ultimately that’s the result.”

Swayman, similar to Sweeney, offered to keep things vague when asked to reflect on everything that has happened over the past few months.

“The fact that we went through this process … is now over,” Swayman said. “I just care about being a Bruin. The fact that I can do this for eight years and grow as a leader and as a true member of this city is all that interests me.”

Swayman was also asked about Gross’ statement from last week and how accurate (or inaccurate) Neely’s comments from earlier that day were. The Bruins goaltender focused most of his reaction on his agent and his efforts to get him one of the most lucrative deals for a goaltender in NHL history.

With his annual payout of $8.25 million, Swayman is now the fourth-highest paid active goaltender in the NHL, tied with Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders.

“Lewis has been incredible throughout this entire process,” Swayman said. “It just shows what he would do to really protect me as his client by doing everything he could to make sure everyone knew that some allegations were true and others were false. It’s not necessarily my job – here and now – to give you that answer.

“Obviously our party and our team know the truth. At the same time we reached an agreement and the fact that I can be here for eight years gives me goosebumps. It’s an incredible feeling. That’s all I care about: moving forward and winning for this organization.”

Given the discrepancy between Neely’s “64 million” comments and the final $66 million payout Swayman secured on Sunday, it is clear that Boston was the party that made the final concessions needed to secure theirs To bring the goalkeeper back into the squad.

But once again, Swayman didn’t want to get into the semantics and developments that ultimately brought him and Gross back to the negotiating table.

“I’m happy with everything,” Swayman admitted. “Again, I couldn’t be more excited to be in this position. So you can dissect whatever you want and think about it. But again, what will this do? We’re here right now. I have a plane to catch in an hour and that’s all I care about, man.

“I couldn’t be happier. And it’s funny when you look at the bigger picture of things, and 15 years ago I never would have believed that this would be a reality in my world. A kid from Alaska standing here before you is truly happy and extremely excited to be a Bruin for eight more years.”