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Aug 06, 2023

Jeremy Swayman, Bruins settle on 1

By Conor Ryan One of the final dominos remaining for the Bruins during their busy offseason toppled on Tuesday afternoon, as Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins finally finalized a new contract. A

By Conor Ryan

One of the final dominos remaining for the Bruins during their busy offseason toppled on Tuesday afternoon, as Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins finally finalized a new contract.

A third-party arbitrator formally awarded Swayman a $3.475 million salary for his next deal, two days after both Swayman and the Bruins took part in an arbitration hearing.

Boston ultimately signed Swayman to a one-year contract for the 2023-24 season, with the 24-year-old netminder expected to hit restricted free agency once again next summer with arbitration rights.

Swayman’s appointed salary stands as an almost 50/50 compromise from where both player and team presented their initial offers. According to multiple reports, the Bruins came in at $2 million for their projected salary, while Swayman and his camp countered at $4.8 million.

Swayman’s contract ruling follows a similar script as the arbitration hearing between Ilya Samsonov and the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this season. After Samsonov filed for $4.9 million and Toronto came in at $2.4 million, the independent arbitrator opted for a one-year deal with a $3.55 million salary.

Swayman is coming off the best season of his young career, forming arguably the best 1-2 goalie punch in the NHL next to reigning Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark. Swayman went 24-6-4 during the 2022-23 season, posting a .920 save percentage, 2.27 GAA and four shutouts in 37 games.

Even Swayman’s underlying metrics were sterling, with the Alaska native ranking fifth in the NHL in high-danger save percentage (.870), per Natural Stat Trick.

With Swayman back in the fold alongside Ullmark, the 2023-24 Bruins will likely need to rely on its goalie corps and stout defense in order to grind out points, especially given the departures up front of Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Hall, and others.

It remains to be seen if David Krejci will opt to return for the 2023-24 season. But even if the veteran pivot did want to don a black-and-gold sweater once again, it’s unclear how Boston exactly carves out the cap space to accommodate another deal on the books.

With Swayman’s $3.475 million salary now in place, CapFriendly.com now has the Bruins with only $429,166 in projected cap space this season.

It should be noted that CapFriendly’s roster project has Boston operating with just a 22-man roster in order to remain cap compliant, with the Bruins having to roll with just one extra skater and defenseman in order to remain under the league’s upper limit of $82.5 million.

Of course, the Bruins can find other avenues to carve out roster space once the new season begins, especially in terms of waiving other players or assigning them down to Providence.

Expect Boston’s assistant GM (and noted cap guru) Evan Gold to be very, very busy this season as Boston makes a variety of moves week in and week out to bank cap space and remain under the cap ceiling.

One interesting wrinkle in Swayman’s contract is that Boston had the option of signing Swayman to a two-year contract at that $3.475 million salary, but instead opted for the one-year deal.

With close to $30 million in cap space next summer, Boston could be setting up a scenario where they lock up Swayman to a long-term extension next summer, especially if the No. 2 netminder continues to show signs of taking the reins as the team’s top option between the pipes in the year ahead.

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