Jeremy Swayman made it clear he didn’t want to go through salary arbitration after last summer’s foray. As it turns out, the Bruins were no more eager to go through the often prickly process with their prized goalie again.
After Swayman declined to file for arbitration on Friday, the B’s bypassed the opportunity for club-elected arbitration on Saturday, even though filing would have protected them against another team coming in with an offer sheet.
Perhaps that means the B’s believe their close enough to a deal to forego using the hammer available to them. Maybe they’re simply not concerned about an offer sheet, a tool that is rarely used by teams. Or perhaps the B’s didn’t want to make a move that would antagonize their No. 1 goalie.
On July 1, after loading up with new free agent signings like Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov and Max Jones, GM Don Sweeney said that getting a deal done for Swayman remained a priority, indicating that going to arbitration is not what he’d like to do either.
“Sway is a big part of this whole dynamic of what we’re trying to put together,” said Sweeney at the start of the week. “It’s a priority for us, we’re going to continue to find a negotiated landing spot, and the timing is what it is, however long that takes. It’s not impacted by what we did today. We’re in a great spot to find as I said, the best negotiated deal we can find for both sides.”
Swayman did go through arbitration last summer. The netminder came in looking for a $4.8 million salary and the B’s countered with $2 million. Swayman eventually was awarded $3.475 million in arbitration.
“There’s no ill will on the process, because I understand that. I’m not the first player to go through it. I’m not the last,” said Swayman during last season. “But I definitely don’t wish it upon any of my friends and teammates moving forward and I don’t want to do it ever again as well.”
And he won’t have to go through it this summer.
How long it takes for the two sides to hammer out a deal remains to be seen, but the B’s cannot afford to not get it done. The already traded away Vezina Award winner Linus Ullmark to Ottawa for a first-round pick (Dean Letourneau), Mark Kastelic and Joonas Korpisalo, Swayman’s would-be backup.
That trade was made in anticipation of Swayman’s next deal being a costly one, possibly in the neighborhood of $8 million per season, depending on the term.
