Could the Boston Bruins be making a big announcement regarding goalie Jeremy Swayman by this time next week?
Per the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, players on expiring contracts can begin to sign contract extensions with their current teams on Jan. 1. Jeremy Swayman is one of those players after receiving a one-year, $3.47 million contract in arbitration this past August. The 25-year-old goaltender is an early Vezina Trophy candidate at 10-2-4, with a 2.17 GAA and .929 save percentage.
In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast episode, co-host and Sportsnet NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman speculated that there could be a contract extension for Swayman coming soon.
“On the 1st, there are some free agents who can sign,” Friedman pointed out. “Players who sign one-year deals can sign, and I think there’s going to be some interesting ones coming out of this. I’m really curious to see. …like Jeremy Swayman is one. That’s one that I’ve kind of wondered about. Shane Pinto, I assume, you know, he’s not even signed yet, but he’s back in Ottawa, and I assume he will this year, and then they’ll kind of figure that one out. But I am really curious about some of these one-year guys and where they’re going to end up and if they’re going to be extended.
You know, like I had said before, I thought that Tyler Bertuzzi was a guy Toronto had talked about a long-term deal with but I don’t expect anything like that right now. To me, one of the guys I’m really watching is Swayman.”
This isn’t the first time that Friedman has anticipated the Bruins and Swayman coming to terms on a contract extension before the Boston Bruins goalie can become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent again on July 1. This was him speaking on ‘The Jeff Marek Show’ back on Nov. 13:
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Boston tries to get Swayman done too because he’s on a one-year deal, and he can extend on January 1st, so I’m curious about that,” Friedman opined to Marek. “The way he’s started this year, how well he’s played, how well they’re going, it would not surprise me at all if the Bruins are looking at that as well.”
Throughout the arbitration process last August and since then, Swayman has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to remain with the Boston Bruins past this season.
“It wasn’t a process I wanted to go through,” Swayman stated after receiving his arbitration reward. “But I understand that it’s business, and in the end, I’m grateful I went through it because I have so many things to be grateful for. I think the biggest thing is living day by day, understanding that what you hear might not be the truth at all times, and again, it’s a business. I wanted to make sure that whatever was thrown my way, I was gonna be able to attack with a good mindset and make sure that at the end of the day, I was doing everything I could to be a Boston Bruin.
Now I’m here today, and I am a Boston Bruin — I couldn’t be happier. There’s no ill will on the process because I understand that. I’m not the first player to go through it. I’m not the last. But I definitely don’t wish it upon any of my friends and teammates moving forward, and I don’t want to do it ever again as well. So grateful I went through it. Glad I got it done. I’m a Boston Bruin at the end of the day.”
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