Incredibly, we are now entering Week 2 of “Should the Bruins trade Jeremy Swayman” talk. Jermaine Wiggins continues to hammer away on The Greg Hill Show, making the argument that the Bruins won’t need two goalies in the playoffs and could use one of them to add an impact everyday player at forward or defense.
Mike Milbury continued to entertain the idea during his weekly appearance with the GHS crew, saying on Thursday that he would consider it for a top-of-the-lineup player with term, or even for a superstar rental in Patrick Kane. (We should note here that Kane was not playing at anything close to a superstar level much of this season and continues to face questions about a hip injury, but he does nonetheless have seven goals in his last four games.)
Personally, my take on this remains the same as it did on Sunday Skate or on Christian Arcand’s show on Saturday: No. There are so many reasons that the Bruins shouldn’t even think about trading Swayman, or Linus Ullmark for that matter (and we should note that Ullmark has a full no-move clause until after this season, so he’s not going anywhere even if the Bruins were for some reason insane enough to try trade him right now).
Here are the top six reasons to not trade Swayman:
1. It would leave them one injury or cold spell away from disaster. Goaltending is currently the area where the Bruins have their biggest advantage over the rest of the NHL. They currently have a .930 team save percentage. No other team is better than .918. Trading Swayman would mean that if anything happened to Ullmark, their biggest strength would turn into a weakness that could kill this magical season on the spot. It would be an unnecessary and potentially lethal risk to take.
2. There is no guarantee that the Bruins won’t have to use both goalies in the playoffs. Neither Ullmark nor Swayman have ever been tasked with starting every game for what the Bruins hope will be two months straight. You hope -- even expect -- that one or both of them can handle it, but you don’t actually know that until they do it. You don’t want to find out in the conference finals that Ullmark is wearing down and leave yourself with no backup plan. And the idea that switching goalies mid-series means you’ve probably already lost doesn’t hold water; just in the last couple years, the Bruins have seen the Hurricanes and Islanders switch goalies mid-series against them and still win the series. Also, Swayman could still straight-up win the Game 1 starting job if he out-performs Ullmark down the stretch (their numbers are basically identical over the last two months).
3. The Bruins don’t have any obvious holes they need to fill. If they had a clear need near the top of the lineup -- like they have in past years at No. 2 center, or a No. 1 left-shot defenseman, or a top-six wing -- then maybe, maybe we would entertain trading from one area of strength (goalie) to fill an area of need. But the Bruins have already filled all those key spots. They got that top left-shot D by trading for Hampus Lindholm last year. David Krejci returned to fill the second-line center void. Trades for Taylor Hall and Pavel Zacha and the resurrection of Jake DeBrusk have shored up their top-six wings -- so much so that Hall is actually now playing on the third line. That’s not to say the Bruins shouldn’t at least look into the idea of adding another stud -- you can always get better -- but they’re not and shouldn’t be anywhere near desperate enough that they’re trading someone as important to their present and future as Swayman. Speaking of which…
4. Swayman is too important to the Bruins’ future. We’ve probably gotten a bit spoiled around here seeing the Bruins go from Tim Thomas to Tuukka Rask and now to this duo. But the reality is that finding No. 1 goalies is actually not that easy. Look around the league at all the teams that are seemingly in the market for goaltending help every year (hello, Toronto). Ullmark has two years left on his contract after this and has obviously been worth every penny so far, but he’ll also be 30 in July and may not be a super-long-term solution. Swayman could be. He’s 24 and still under team control as a restricted free agent after this season. He won’t be due a major payday for a couple more years. Maybe the Bruins would entertain trading one of them this summer or in the next couple years when they might have more roster holes to fill, but as we just covered, they’re not in that spot just yet.
5. The financials don’t add up. The Bruins have to move out money to add anyone before the March 3 deadline. According to multiple reports, that’s what’s holding up a trade for defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who doesn’t even have that big of a cap hit ($2.8 million). Swayman’s cap hit is only $925,000, so you’re certainly not trading him straight up for a star player that’s making 5-10 times that. Getting teams to retain salary costs draft picks and/or prospects. So does dumping a contract no one wants (i.e. Craig Smith or Mike Reilly). Suddenly you’re not just trading Swayman; you’re also trading another piece or two off the active roster to match salary or you’re throwing in multiple picks and prospects for financial aid. What piece out there is even worth all that? Which brings us to…
6. There probably isn’t someone available who’s even worth it. If Swayman actually were available (and I can’t stress this enough: he’s not), he would be a way more valuable trade chip than their first-round pick, Fabian Lysell or Mason Lohrei. He would probably be the most valuable piece any playoff team would move this season. That means you’re looking for the elite of the elite, not just a second-line forward or second-pairing defenseman. Jakob Chychrun isn’t worth giving up a piece that valuable. Neither is a few months of a banged-up Patrick Kane at this point in his career, his last four games notwithstanding. Timo Meier might be if the Bruins locked him up on an extension, but they almost certainly won’t be able to afford to do that. Same goes for Dylan Larkin, who probably isn’t going anywhere anyways with the Red Wings trying to make a playoff push and still trying to lock him up long-term. The Bruins can’t afford Erik Karlsson’s contract going forward. So, we’ll ask again: What player even makes this crazy idea worth considering?
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