The Bruins' to-do list is complete.
Boston and Jeremy Swayman settled on a one-year, $3.475 million contract on Tuesday, according to Elliotte Friedman, after an arbitration hearing on Sunday.
The Bruins chose a one-year deal but could have chosen two, per PuckPedia. They had the choice due to the player electing for arbitration, too. Swayman will again be a restricted free agent next summer with arbitration rights. He would not reach UFA status until the 2026 offseason.
The deal comes after Boston reportedly filed at $2 million, while Swayman's camp came in at $4.8 million, Friedman reported Friday. The B's re-signed Trent Frederic to a two-year deal with a $2.3 million average annual value earlier Tuesday, getting an agreement in at the 11th hour before Frederic's scheduled arbitration hearing.
Even if he was under team control the whole time, Swayman didn't want to be anywhere but Boston. At breakup day in May, he labeled the priorities for his next deal as, "Playing hockey, ideally in a Bruins sweater."
The deal pushes the Bruins $345,834 over the cap, per CapFriendly. After Frederic signed, @BruinsCapSpace on Twitter noted the B's could work out the roster to leave them with approximately $3.879 million in room, which would drop down to just over $404,000 after Swayman's deal. Boston is allowed to go as much as 10 percent over the salary cap in the offseason. To become compliant before Opening Night, the Bruins could utilize waivers or roll with a 22-man roster. Additionally, a second buyout window opens up later in the summer to teams with any arbitration case filed or settled.
Swayman is coming off his best season to date as a professional, putting up a 24-6-4 record, four shutouts (tied-third in the league), a .920 save percentage (fourth) and a 2.27 GAA (fourth) in 37 games. He ranked eighth in goals-saved above expected (24.0) and wins above replacement (4.0), according to MoneyPuck, and his .715 goals-saved above expected per 60 minutes was .715, third among qualified goaltenders behind only Vezina-winner Linus Ullmark (.883) and fellow candidate Juuse Saros (.735). He was ahead of finalists Ilya Sorokin (.647) in 25 fewer games and Connor Hellebuyck (.489) in 27 fewer appearances. Swayman's .870 high-danger save percentage was tied for fifth in the NHL, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Swayman and Ullmark made up the best 1a-1b goaltending punch in the league last season, taking home the Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goalies (min. 25 games) on the team with the fewest goals allowed in the regular season. The two have formed a strong bond in their two years as a tandem.
“He’s one of those people, too, that I am just so fortunate to know and get to experience life with," Swayman said after the Game 7 loss to Florida. "He’s taught me so much, and we’ve learned from each other, and it goes beyond the rink; it goes into family. To be a part of his family and him a part of mine is something that I will forever cherish, and I am just so lucky to have a partner like him — and hopefully for a really long time.”
BSJ Analysis...
Now that Swayman and Frederic done, Don Sweeney's in-house agenda is complete for the offseason, although the B's still await official word on David Krejci's future.
Letting Swayman's process actually get to the arbitration hearing was the last resort, but it's part of the business. Now both sides and move on, and Swayman can focus on playing hockey. It's hard to imagine him being too worked up about it, though, based off what we know about his personality and mindset. He's a big boy. At breakup day, he seemed to want to be hands-off.
"I leave that up to the agents and the guys that are good at that," he said. "I’m excited for sure, I absolutely love it here and it’s going to be a fun process.”
I will say, I am slightly surprised to see the deal come in at under $3.5 million, even if only slightly. Still, it is almost a near-perfect compromise by the neutral arbiter. A 50-50 split between the team and player's asks would have been $3.4 million.
Here's a little bit of what I wrote over the weekend on some comparables:
It's a similar situation to the situation Ilya Samsonov and the Maple Leafs found themselves in just a couple of weeks ago. Samsonov's filing was $4.9 million, while Toronto came in at $2.4 million. With a $2.5 million difference, the arbiter awarded Samsonov a one-year, $3.55 million deal.
While Jake Oettinger, Spencer Knight and Carter Hart have been the popular contract comparables for Swayman throughout this process, a better comparison could be Pittsburgh's Triston Jarry, who signed for three years at $3.5 million per season in 2020 as an arbitration-eligible RFA. Jarry didn't get to arbitration but was coming off a 20-12-1 record, three shutouts, a .921 save percentage and a 2.43 goals-against average in 33 games. Swayman just put up a 24-6-4 record, four shutouts, a .920 save percentage and a 2.27 GAA in 37 games this season.
I brought up Jarry because of his status as an arbitration-eligible RFA at the time. Knight (3x$4.5m) signed his extension in-season before getting to restricted free agency, and he wouldn’t have had arbitration rights, anyway. Oettinger (3x$4m) and Hart (3x$3.979m) reached restricted free agency but again were not arbitration eligible. I thought the way Samsonov played out was a good indicator. Swayman could have come in a little higher since he is a better player.
In the end, Boston maintains its strong goaltending tandem, which I would expect comes to more of a 50-50 split in terms of workload next season.
With the one-year contract, it's not unreasonable to see both the Bruins and Swayman eyeing a long-term deal in the 2024 offseason when he reaches RFA status again. Boston could have as much as approximately $29 million in cap space, which should make it far easier to facilitate an extension than it was this time around. The additional space would also allow the B's to do right by the player after this process, especially if he (expectedly) outplays the $3.475 million cap hit in 2023-24.
Ullmark has two years remaining on his deal – and has been the subject of plenty of trade speculation this offseason. He has trade protections in place. It's entirely possible had Boston explored trading the Vezina winner, they didn't find a price to make it worth it. Teams aren't lining up to help one another out of cap jail, even if a good player is involved. Still, the Bruins will need to rely on their greatest strengths this season – goaltending and defense – after the departures of Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Hall and potentially Krejci from the forward group.
But whether it is trading Ullmark at some point or letting him walk at the end of his deal, it's not unreasonable to expect Swayman to step in as the franchise goaltender down the line. He should be ready in due time, but whether or not that day is already here, remains to be seen.