Jeremy Swayman’s contract drama reaches new height as agent Lewis Gross refutes $64 million contract claim

Goalie Jeremy Swayman wishes to continue playing with the Bruins as per reports, but no contract has been finalized yet.

Jeremy Swayman’s contract drama reaches new height=

Jeremy Swayman [Image Credit" Imago]

Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman’s $64 million fiasco reaches new heights with varied claims made by the organization and agent Lewis Gross. In a recent pre-season press conference, Bruins president Cam Neely stated they offered a $64 million contract to the goalie, but nothing has been finalized yet.

On the other hand, Swayman’s agent Gross refuted the claim saying no such offer was made during their initial negotiations and they are “extremely disappointed” how it has come to the public eye. If the $64 million contract is signed, Swayman will become one of the top-paid goalies in the NHL with an $8 million cap hit.

However, the terms regarding the contract have not been made public, and with the said amount it can be guessed that the Bruins wanted to make a deal with Jeremy Swayman of 8 years with $64 million. It would give him the 6th highest cap hit of any goalie for the 2024-25 season.

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I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.

Cam Neely on X.

Refuting the claim, the agent Lewis Gross released a social media statement saying,

Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media. However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client. At today’s press conference, $64 million was referenced. That was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level. We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.

Lewis Gross on X.

Cam Neely claimed that it is “unfortunate” that the contract has not been finalized yet, but they’ll be looking forward to any further discussion regarding this. Swayman on the other hand is the only restricted free agent in NHL to sign prior to the regular season games. 

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Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman [Image Credit: Imago]

Does Jeremy Swayman’s contract delay have anything to do with Linus Ullmark?

During the offseason, the Boston Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators due to restrictions in salary cap and playing time. The combo of Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman was one of the best in the NHL as they were considered the top goalie duo.

Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman [Image Credit: Imago]
Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman [Image Credit: Imago]

True to the expectations, they wiped the floors during 2023-24 regular season games and even in the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, the team eventually decided to go with Swayman and trade Ullmark to maintain the cap balance.  

With Ullmark gone from the Black and Gold team, Swayman was supposed to be the No.1 goalie for the Bruins. But he is currently a restricted free agent with no contract finalization. In this whole process, manager Don Sweeney received heavy criticism for not finalizing a deal with ‘Sway’ before trading Ullmark.

As per reports, Swayman’s side has been seeking a contract that’ll give the goalie an AAV exceeding $9.5 million. This’ll put him on par with top goalie contracts like Carey Price ($10.5 million), and Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million). It is yet to be seen what finally happens, but Swayman has up to December 1 to sign the deal if he wants to participate in the 2024-25 regular season games.

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