If various reports and what numerous NHL sources are telling yours truly are true, Boston Bruins restricted free agent goalie Jeremy Swayman and, subsequently, New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin are trying to reset the goalie market.
Swayman is yet to reach an agreement for the upcoming 2024-25 season, and Shesterkin seems reluctant to discuss a contract extension past this season until the 25-year-old Bruins netminder reaches an agreement on a new contract with his team. Per Pierre LeBrun in the latest TSN NHL Insider Trading:
”There’s ongoing dialogue (between Swayman’s agent Lewis Gross and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney). I checked in on this again on Tuesday, and I was told it’s status quo, and they’re still not there.
The key thing is that Swayman is still very focused on getting an eight-year deal. That’s still the No. 1 priority for him, and the Bruins are looking at a long-term deal as well.
But you can’t have the Shesterkin discussion without having Swayman tied into it in the sense that they are different negotiations. Swayman, in terms of the collective bargaining agreement, isn’t at the same leverage point because he won’t be a UFA at the end of the year. So, Shesterkin has a higher leverage point.
But in Swayman, there’s a bit of what I just talked about [with Shesterkin]. Just because all these goalies are signing for whatever they signed for the last couple years, that Swayman can’t find a way to push through.
I think we’re seeing that in his negotiations with the Bruins, so it’s a fascinating one.”
When informed of that and other reports conveying the same thing, my co-host on The Eye Test Podcast here on the Sick Podcast Network had a warning for Swayman and Shesterkin:
”Well, good luck!” McGuire replied bluntly. “If you’re trying to push me around as a GM, you won’t be very successful. Once a GM capitulates to being pushed around, they have no future because every free agent in the league will gang up on him. Negotiations shouldn’t be done in public. I can tell you right now that I haven’t seen one disparaging thing said by [Rangers GM] Chris Drury, and I haven’t seen one disparaging thing said by [Bruins GM] Donny Sweeney in the negotiation. So, I don’t believe that the pressure tactics will work – that’s my opinion – eventually they might.
We’ve talked about dates. There are serious dates—hard dates you gotta hit. One of the hard dates has already passed for Swayman and Sweeney, which was to get him into camp. The next date is the start of the regular season. That looks like it’s probably not going to happen. So, then there’s one final date, and that’s December 1. On Swayman, if he’s not signed, he’s not playing again this year. I think, personally, that would be malpractice by the agent. And I like Lewis Gross; he’s a perfectly good agent, but once a player misses a year of checks, he’s never going to make that money back.”
