It’s no secret Jeremy Swayman did not enjoy arbitration during the summer of 2023. He’s made that very clear.
It’s not a fun experience for the player or the team. Both sides have to state their case for why their salary figure is the right one. Ultimately, Swayman was awarded a $3.475 million salary for the 2023-24 season. It was a one-year contract, which meant he would become a restricted free agent again this past offseason.
And what’s where Swayman is now. He is the only RFA in the NHL who’s still unsigned, and the Bruins begin their regular season schedule next Tuesday, Oct. 8, against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on the road.
Swayman is featured with several star players in a new docuseries launching on Amazon Prime Video titled Faceoff: Inside the NHL. The first episode releases Friday, Oct. 4. The Bruins goaltender is featured in the third episode. The docuseries crew followed him during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Some members of the media have received advanced material from the episode, and as a result, we’ve learned some of what Swayman says. One topic Swayman discusses in the episode is what was said during the arbitration process, and he admits to keeping a list of the knocks against him.
Keep in mind, these comments were made during the docuseries filming last season.
“When you go into that room, you don’t say a word,” Swayman says in the episode, as transcribed by Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic. “My arbitrator started first, he said all of these great things. The arbitrator on their side, their job is to help the management side and to rip players, and hearing that you’re not worthy of what you think you’re worthy of, that was hard to hear. You don’t forget what was said. I wrote ’em down and I looked at ’em the other day and I had a couple of checkmarks. My biggest knock was how I wasn’t trustworthy in the playoffs. Check.”
Swayman was dynamite in the 2024 playoffs. He started 12 of the Bruins’ 13 games and led all playoff goalies with a .933 save percentage through two rounds. You could easily argue that the Bruins would have been eliminated by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round if not for Swayman’s brilliant performance in that series. He allowed two or fewer goals in all seven games, including a 30-save performance in a Game 7 overtime victory.
The question now is, when will Swayman and the Bruins reach a contract agreement? B’s president Cam Neely suggested earlier this week that the team had offered Swayman a $64 million contract. Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, had a strong response to that a few hours later.
The deadline for both sides is Dec. 1. Swayman must be signed by that date to play during the upcoming season.
If the Bruins have Swayman in the fold, they’re a real contender in the Eastern Conference. Without him, the road to the Stanley Cup Final would be much, much tougher.