Bruins general manager Don Sweeney appeared before the media at the start of training camp Wednesday and answered some tough questions regarding the lack of a Jeremy Swayman contract.
A fiery Sweeney emphatically fought back against various reports about the front office's negotiations with the 25-year-old goaltender.
Ultimately, Sweeney said that he was "optimistic" that a deal could be worked out before Dec. 1, the deadline for any restricted free agent player to sign and still be able to participate in the season.
"Am I surprised? No," Rich Keefe said on Wednesday's Jones and Keefe on WEEI.
"You shouldn't be," Adam Jones said.
The press conference came after conflicting reports at WEEI, one from Courtney Cox on The Greg Hill Show, who said that the Swayman extension was done, and one from Keefe, who said the two sides were still not particularly close.
"That doesn't sound close to me," Jones said.
"December 1st, multiple times, talking up Brandon Bussi and on top of it, what did he say mixed in there? He's like 'Oh yeah, by the way, every day Jeremy Swayman is not here, he hurts himself, he hurts his team'...that's gonna make [him] want to sign with you."
Jones was referring to comments made by Sweeney in the press conference where he said, "Every day that Jeremy is out, it hurts our team and it hurts him because of the preparation that we would like to do and that he needs to do."
Comments like that can't sound good to Swayman, who has talked extensively about how much the front office's comments during his earlier contract arbitration hurt him personally.
Sweeney also reacted negatively to the reports regarding the contract talks, specifically calling one report from the Spittin' Chiclets podcast "bullsh–t."
"He also doesn't love the leaks it sounds like. There has been a lot of different reporting on this," Keefe said.
Ryan Whitney reported on the podcast that the Bruins' offer came in far under what Swayman was asking for and that the GM hadn't returned phone calls from Swayman for three weeks.
"He's obviously hearing and reading a lot of things. They're a little sensitive to it right now," Keefe said.
Swayman, who currently does not have a contract, will not report to training camp while his camp and the Bruins' front office continue to negotiate a new deal.
