The future of Boston’s goaltending has been in question for the past few months, and the future is finally clear. On Sunday, Oct. 6, Jeremy Swayman signed an eight-year contract worth $66 million dollars, just in time for the opening of the regular season.
The Boston Bruins have been well known for their goalie tandem between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman for the past few years. Unfortunately, with Swayman’s contract expiring this past season, both the fans and the organization knew that it may not be possible to keep both players due to cap space. The big question is who would make the cut?
Courtesy of John Tlumacki / Globe Staff
The prior season, Swayman had gone through arbitration because he and the Bruins’ management could not come to an agreement. During these hearings, he was told that he could not be trusted during playoffs. Some would argue that this was not a fair claim, considering Swayman did not see much time in front of the net during the 2023 playoffs.
However, during the 2024 playoffs, he made sure to show what he could do, starting in every game in the playoffs except for one. Although the Bruins were ultimately eliminated in the second round, Swayman still proved himself in the eyes of many.
Then, in late June, the Bruins traded Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Mark Kastelic, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and a 2024 first-round draft pick. This move by the Boston organization suggested that Swayman would likely become their number one goalie.
However, as the summer passed, a contract was not signed, which worried many Bruins fans. It seemed that in the management’s eyes, Swayman was asking for too much and in his eyes, the Bruins were not offering enough. There are varying opinions about this, considering Swayman had some of the best goaltending stats during the playoffs, but also because he had never been the main goalie in a season before.
Stories of the contract negotiations hit the media, with Bruins president Cam Neely making the statement, “I know there are 64 million reasons for him to be playing right now,” alluding to the idea of Swayman being offered an eight-year, $8 million AAV contract. This ruffled some feathers, as Swayman’s agent claimed this deal was never offered.
Courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images
Then, just a few days later, it was announced that Swayman and the Bruins had finally come to an agreement, with the goalie signing an eight-year contract with an AAV of $8.25 million, showing that he now has 66 million reasons to be playing for Boston. Despite never being the number one goalie for Boston, he is now one of the highest-paid goaltenders in the NHL.
Swayman isn’t the only goalie who signed a major contract this week. Ullmark also just signed a four-year contract extension with the Senators, with an AAV equal to the Bruins goaltender. Swayman may or may not have just set the new standard for the goalie market.
Although Swayman was signed two days before the regular season started, he was not in net during that first game in Florida, most likely due to the fact that he missed the entirety of training camp and preseason. During that game, Korpisalo let in six goals, with the Panthers crowd shouting, “We want Swayman!”
But, the Alaska native did start in the Bruins home opener on Oct. 10, making 20 saves out of 25 shot attempts, and the team won their first game. It will be exciting to see how the regular season pans out, and if the Bruins will make it past the second round of playoffs this year with the help of their new number one goaltender.
Edited by Breanna Ebisch
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