Jeremy Swayman agency disputes contract remarks by Bruins brass
A new statement by the agency representing Jeremy Swayman denies the veracity of a comment by Bruins President Cam Neely on the goaltender’s contract negotiation.
The Jeremy Swayman contract situation has taken a dramatic turn.
It started Monday morning at TD Garden, when Bruins team president Cam Neely strongly hinted at the amount of money the B’s have offered Swayman on a new contract: “I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.”
Just prior to that head-turner of a comment, Bruins GM Don Sweeney took issue with the idea that he or the team “aren’t willing to go max term,” implying that the B’s were prepared to offer the maximum of eight years. Put it all together, and Bruins brass is implying that they’ve offered Swayman eight years for $64 million, an $8M average annual value that would make him the sixth-highest-paid goaltender in the National Hockey League.
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Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, has now denied that such an offer was ever extended to Swayman in their negotiations and that Neely’s press conference remarks were the first he’d heard of it, as part of a statement released on social media Monday night.
“We are extremely disappointed,” Gross’ statement reads, in part. “This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery confirmed to reporters that, barring a surprise contract agreement for Swayman before the start of the season, Joonas Korpisalo will be the team’s starting goaltender when they kick off the 2024-25 regular season next Tuesday, Oct. 8, on the road against the Florida Panthers.
Even during Monday’s presser, Neely and Sweeney both stressed that their intention and expectation is that Swayman is signed to a contract extension. Swayman himself has said multiple times that he wants to stay a Bruin for the long-term. It’s just that the negotiations are now likely to stretch into the regular season, as the two sides stare down a Dec. 1 deadline, and it’s unclear how deep the disappointment goes with the organization on Swayman’s side.
Not to mention, this thing has become a war of words. The general public is left to decide who’s telling the truth. There’s no polishing this, now. It’s getting ugly.
Anyway, the Bruins that are here will have to go forward and play their next preseason game on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
