BOSTON — If Jeremy Swayman thought going to arbitration was unpleasant, at least that was done in private.
The contract standoff between the Bruins and their unsigned restricted free-agent goalie just got more public and a whole lot messier.
At Media Day on Monday, team president Cam Neely flippantly implied the Bruins offered Swayman an 8-year contract for $64 million. Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, called him a liar.
Round 2 of the sides accusing each other of lying was nastier than Round 1 was. Somebody leaked reports earlier this month that Don Sweeney wasn’t returning phone calls from Swayman’s team or negotiating in good faith. That caused the Bruins general manager to defend himself and the team’s tactics earlier this month. Sweeney’s response indicated he at least suspects those reports came from Swayman’s representatives.
But despite that, Sweeney had made an effort to keep the general tenor of his comments respectful and cordial. He’s regularly said things like:
“Today’s a new day to continue to have a discussion and hopefully bridge the gaps that still exist.”
What happened Monday
Neely’s remarks seemed to come unprompted on Monday
As a player, Neely skated hard, hit hard, fought hard and shot hard. Despite considerable skill, there wasn’t a lot of diplomacy in his game. He was the prototypical power forward running guys over instead of dancing around them. While many bruising hockey players are soft-spoken and gentle off the ice, Neely’s personality has often reflected his game.
He was famously caught on camera furiously throwing water bottle after a missed call during the 2019 playoffs.
Sweeney was answering a question about the Bruins’ standoff with Swayman with his usual attempted diplomacy. Was the general manager surprised at what Swayman was asking for?
“No… I would never begrudge a player asking for what he thinks his value is,” Sweeney said before his boss interjected.
“I was surprised,” Neely said.
The Bruins had intentionally been avoiding any public bad blood. Sweeney said he respected Swayman and wanted him in the Bruins.
Only Neely knows if his entry into the fray was premeditated or a gut reaction. But his response to what Swayman had been asking for went viral almost instantly.
“Well, I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now,” he said.
Sweeney’s refusal to discuss specifics was replaced by Neely’s 64 million reasons.
The basest narrative on social media quickly went from the “Bruins are cheap” for lowballing their goalie to “Swayman is greedy” for turning down that deal.
How Swayman’s agent responded
Lewis Gross and the Bruins have crossed swords before when his client Torey Krug was a free agent. The defenseman said he wanted to stay in Boston, but later said the Bruins had pulled an early offer and didn’t offer another before he signed with St. Louis.
Only they know if that prior interaction is affecting this one.
“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. This 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.”
Now what?
If ego and anger could be removed from the scenario, logic would say Monday’s events suggest it could resolve itself quickly. Neely implied the Bruins offered $64 million over eight years. If that’s true and that’s a number Team Swayman would find acceptable, well then somebody should draw up the contracts and be done with this even if it took some lying to get there.
But where there are athletes and agents there’s usually going to be ego so it’s not going to be that simple.
Somebody is not only lying but doing it to make the other side look bad. That’s going to be a hard bridge to rebuild.
It leaves some pretty clear and hard-to-answer questions starting with: How much will either side’s anger fuel whatever comes next?
The last line of Gross’ statement sounds ominous – “This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”
Nobody has a few days. The season starts in a week. Is that a tactic? Is he about to request a trade? Does Swayman still want to be a Bruin?
Are the Bruins, who believe they’re Stanley Cup contenders, willing to jeopardize that by going deep into the season without their No. 1 goalie? As good as Joonas Korpisalo has been in the preseason, he’s still has a lot to prove before being considered a No. 1 goalie again.
There aren’t a lot of places Swayman can go and have his current contract demands met and the Bruins don’t have a lot of other paths to landing an elite goalie. If the Bruins traded him, they’d be in the market for a goalie either at the trade deadline or next year in free agency. In both cases, the best available netminder might be Linus Ullmark. Logically, each side’s best option is likely working it out with the other.
But while there might be 64 million good reasons to play, but it only takes one big petty reason to sit out.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
