As the NHL gets closer to the 2024-25 season, fans of the Boston Bruins are starting to sweat over their unsigned starting goalie, Jeremy Swayman. Still a restricted free agent, Swayman will need a new deal from the Bruins before puck drop on the new year.
This is the second straight summer Swayman and the Bruins have had to sign a new deal, but the 25-year-old goalie refused to go through the arbitration process this time around.
With the opening of training camp and the preseason just about a month away, where do Swayman and the Bruins stand in contract talks? According to insider Elliotte Friedman, there is still work to be done.
“The last I heard, they weren’t close,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “This has been a bit of a challenging negotiation. But, they’ve still got time.”
It’s been pretty clear for most of the offseason that there is no need to worry about this situation in Boston. The Bruins are committed to Swayman as their starter and should be locking him in before the season starts. If it’s that cut and dry, it is strange to see no pen to paper for so long.
For the past three seasons, Swayman has shared the Bruins net with Linus Ullmark. Heading into 2024-25, the Bruins are giving their full commitment to Swayman as they dealt Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators just before the 2024 NHL Draft.
The Bruins brought back Joonas Korpisalo, but his numbers shouldn’t warrant a starting role in Boston unless there’s an emergency. At the moment, not having a deal done with your starter is cause for concern, but it should still be Swayman’s net to start the year.
Swayman has appeared in 132 career games with a 79-33-15 record, a .919 save percentage, and a 2.53 goals-against average.
