The Bruins' president, GM and coach all spoke on the lack of a contract for RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman, with Cam Neely saying their ask and his ask are two different things.
Boston Bruins president Cam Neely agrees with speculation that RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman aims to reset the NHL goalie market as contract negotiations appear to have no end in sight.
"What his ask is and what we believe his comp group is are two different things," Neely told reporters on Monday.
Swayman's contract negotiations were front and center at the Bruins' start-of-season press conference involving Bruins CEO and alternate governor Charlie Jacobs, Neely, GM Don Sweeney and coach Jim Montgomery. The 25-year-old is the No. 1 on their depth chart, but as the season opener approaches, he and the team have not agreed on a contract.
"I don't have a definitive update in any way other than where I was with Jeremy," Sweeney said. "Continued, consistent communication with his representatives, but we still have a gap to bridge, and we're going to try to continue to do that."
Neely said he strongly believes Swayman still wants to play in Boston and feels Sweeney has shown in the past he can get deals done. But this one is a bit trickier. When asked what Swayman's looking for, Neely did give some of their side of the story.
"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," Neely said.
That hints at what could be an eight-year offer worth $8 million annually. It would be more in line with Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck's $8.5-million cap hit on a seven-year contract, the New York Islanders' $8.25-million cap hit on an eight-year deal for Ilya Sorokin and Juuse Saros' $7.74-million cap hit on an eight-year contract extension with the Nashville Predators.
With ground to make, the Bruins prepare for the beginning of the regular season with someone else in mind – off-season acquisition Joonas Korpisalo.
"How well camp has gone, how well Korpisalo has done, right now, he's going to be our Game 1 starter," Montgomery said.
Korpisalo came over to the Bruins in a trade that saw Linus Ullmark head to the Ottawa Senators. Last season, the 30-year-old Korpisalo had a 3.27 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in 55 games with the Senators. But in his two pre-season games played, he's had a 1.92 GAA and .936 SP.
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