It’s been an interesting last few days for Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman.
What to make of Swayman bringing up arbitration
On Saturday, he was named an All-Star for the first time. On Saturday night, after an overtime win in St. Louis, he made some headlines by bringing up his summer arbitration case unprompted while talking about said All-Star nod.
On Monday, with Linus Ullmark still out due to a lower-body injury, Swayman got a third straight start for the first time in nearly two years. He showed he was more than capable of handling it, stopping all 31 shots he faced in a shutout win over the Devils.
All of this together has certainly made the conversation around Swayman a little more interesting, and it’s enough to make you wonder just where exactly everything stands right now.
Let’s take a look at things from a few different angles:
His play
Look, starting three games in a row isn’t anything crazy. Even in today’s world of ever-increasing goalie platoons, plenty of teams will give a goalie three straight starts without batting an eye.
But because of how rigid the Bruins’ rotation has been (understandably so given the quality of their two goalies) and because of how infrequently Swayman has done this, it is notable when it happens here.
Last season, Swayman never even started two games in a row. He did get back-to-back starts once earlier this season, in November, but that was it. The last time he started three in a row was in the 2022 playoffs, when he started the final five games of Boston’s first-round loss to Carolina.
“It's nice to be able to see him have this opportunity,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “If Linus wasn't injured, we wouldn't have seen it. But his makeup is someone that wants the net every night. Linus has that, too. The swagger that he brings, it feels like he never gets tired. And he is in tremendous shape and condition. So that probably helps his mental, but his mental attitude is positivity. He exudes it, and it goes through our bench.”
With the shutout on Monday, Swayman now has all three of the Bruins’ shutouts this season. That ties him for the fourth-most in the NHL. He now has a record of 13-3-7. He is fourth in the NHL in save percentage (.922), sixth in goals-against average (2.38), second in 5-on-5 save percentage (.938), third in high-danger save percentage (.872), and seventh in goals saved above expected (10.0, according to Moneypuck).
A lot of those numbers are more or less in line with last season, but Montgomery and Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa see improvements in areas that don’t necessarily show in the numbers, too.
“When I look at Sway’s game, I think he continues to improve. He's much better this year than he was last year,” Montgomery said. “His game management is better, when to take a faceoff, when not to, when to move the puck up, recognizing the other team’s changing and we can catch them.
“And then just his overall presence in the crease. I mean, he's always had a swagger and confidence to him, but now he really seems to be dialed in as to his tracking and his depth in the crease. That's something that Bob can talk a lot more intelligently about, but it's some things that Bob and I have talked about that he's noticed that he talks to me about, and then I notice it.”
Swayman sees that improvement in himself, too, to the point where he’s baffled by some of the decisions he made last season when he sees them on film now.
“It's kind of weird watching film from last year at times,” he said. “It’s like, who is that guy? So, I've gotten to talk with Goalie Bob a ton, and obviously Linus and I have talked a ton about when to take whistles or how to play pucks, making our defense’s job easier. And I think it's been really awesome to see the experience kind of show for itself, and I know that I feel more confident and I'm letting the puck come to me and stuff. You can't buy experience at Target. So, we gotta go through it, and that's really special, what we’re doing.”
Swayman and Ullmark are great friends, and they remain each other’s biggest supporters. But Swayman also wants to make sure everyone in the Bruins organization knows that they can rely on him to be a true No. 1 goalie if needed.
“I love when people know that, because I know that I want the net every night,” he said. “And that's what I want my teammates to know, that’s what I want my coaches to know, what I want this organization to know. I absolutely love being in the net. That's where I feel most comfortable. That’s what I was born to do. Every opportunity I get that, I don't take it for granted. I enjoy it to the fullest, I have a smile on my face every time, and look forward to more.”
Those arbitration comments
When Swayman was asked on Saturday night what being named an All-Star meant to him, the first half of his answer was not surprising at all. He gave credit to his teammates for playing great defense in front of him and making his job easier.
But the second half of his answer? Well, that was kind of surprising. Without even being asked about it, Swayman brought up his arbitration hearing from August, something he was already on the record as hating.
“After dealing with what I did this summer with arbitration, hearing things that a player should never hear, it feels pretty special to be in this situation,” he said.
Asked about those comments on Monday, Swayman didn’t seem interested in going down that road any further.
“I think it was a great learning experience, and I'm not gonna lean on it,” he said when asked if it still left a bad taste in his mouth. “It's already happened. What's happened has happened. I'm living in the present moment. And again, it just goes back to the experience. I wouldn't be the human being I am, I wouldn't be the player I am if I didn't go through it, if I didn't have the years in college and I didn't have the years in junior and the years in the NHL. So, I'm grateful for everything that's come my way and I'm excited for what's to come.”
So, why bring it up on Saturday then?
“Well, it's something that I've experienced,” he said. “So, I'm allowed to lean on my experience when things happen, and that's what I did.”
Arbitration hearings are always uncomfortable, which is why so few players actually end up in them. Both sides file at numbers that they know probably aren’t the player’s true value, because the vast majority of cases that actually go to a hearing end with the arbitrator settling somewhere in the middle.
In this case, Swayman’s side filed at $4.8 million, knowing full well he wasn’t going to get that much. The Bruins filed at $2 million, knowing full well that Swayman was worth more than that. So, the Bruins had to argue why Swayman wasn’t worth nearly as much as he thought he was. As expected, the arbitrator settled in the middle at $3.475 million.
It’s a crappy process for everyone, and it can certainly sour relationships if the player takes things personally. Swayman said back in August that he understood this was part of the business and that there was “no ill will.” He said he was “glad” to remain a Bruin and has reiterated since then that he wants to stay in Boston. Still, there's a reason it was one of the first things he brought up after being named an All-Star.
What it all means for his next contract
Swayman’s comments on Saturday led some to wonder if his relationship with the front office is on rocky ground. Would negotiations for his next contract (his current contract is only for one year) get dragged out? Could the two sides end up in danger of another contentious arbitration case this summer?
It actually doesn’t seem that way, though. On the contrary, there have been reports that an extension for Swayman might get done sooner rather than later.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan have both reported that the Bruins want to get an extension done. Just last week, Kaplan went so far as to write that “a few people have told me to expect that to get done soon.” Swayman became eligible to negotiate and sign an extension on Jan. 1.
Friedman and cohost Jeff Marek had Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, on their “32 Thoughts” podcast on Friday. Most of the conversation was about a different Gross client – William Nylander, who just signed a monster extension in Toronto – but they did ask him about Swayman as well, with Friedman reiterating his belief that the Bruins want to get a long-term extension done.
“Jeremy loves Boston. Jeremy loves being a Bruin,” Gross said. “It's a great organization. He's a great young goaltender, confident as can be. And as good as he is on the ice – I was just with him in Boston, and he's equally as good off the ice. … He actually is such an incredible young man. And I know the Bruins know that, and we're gonna hopefully work out a deal that everybody's gonna be happy with.”
That doesn’t like someone whose client is unhappy or unsure about remaining in Boston. That sounds like a situation where there’s a lot of mutual interest in getting an extension done.
And ultimately, that seems like the most likely outcome here, regardless of Swayman bringing up arbitration seemingly out of the blue.
It remains to be seen when that extension might get done and what the length and term might look like – Swayman has certainly earned a sizable raise over his current $3.475 million salary – but the bet here is that it does eventually get done.