Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are set to kick off their regular season against the Florida Panthers next Tuesday, and restricted free-agent goalie Jeremy Swayman remains unsigned. That feels unlikely to change in the immediate future.

If anything, the disconnect between Swayman and Boston may be growing. President of hockey operations Cam Neely made a blunt statement about the netminder's holdout on Monday, which likely didn't sit well with the 25-year-old.

Swayman's agent, Lewis Gross, was quick to respond publicly, denying that a $64 million offer was ever formally made.

"At today's press conference, $64 million was referenced.," he posted on social media. "This was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level."

According to Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, the $64 million figure is believed to indeed be inaccurate.

"My understanding is that the Bruins have offered eight years times $7.8 million, which is $62.4 [million]," Seravalli told Morning Cuppa Hockey. "...I think the Swayman camp has been asking for something in the neighborhood of eight times $8.5 million,"

If Seravalli is correct, the gap between Boston's offer and Swayman's ask isn't massive. However, it does exist, and the goalie's camp may be unwilling to compromise after Neely's decision to make numbers public. A trade request could also ensue, though Gross didn't go that far in his statement:

"We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here."

The Bruins should also take some time to reassess the situation. Neely's comments make it feel as if $8 million annually is as high as Boston is willing to go. The team must reconsider that stance because the alternatives are letting Swayman's holdout continue and offering him on the trade market—though it's something the team reportedly does not want to do.

"Two weeks ago, I started to hear rumours of a possible trade," Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman wrote on September 30. "The Bruins wouldn't comment, but it was clear they told teams they weren't considering it and wanted to keep him."

The Bruins certainly don't want a strained relationship with their long-term No. 1 goaltender, and if things are heading in that direction, they could become more open to dealing him.

However, trading Swayman would be far from the best option. For starters, it would leave Joonas Korpisalo, who was acquired in the Linus Ullmark trade, and the unproven Brandon Bussi as Boston's top options.

Secondly, the Bruins would have a difficult time getting appropriate value in a trade. Boston got a first-round pick, Korpisalo and Mark Kastelic for Ullmark, who is a little more than five years older than Swayman. The restricted free agent is worth a bigger package, but teams aren't going to offer one with his contract situation still unsettled.

According to Friedman, Swayman has wanted to stay in Boston. Therefore, the goalie may view his demand of $8.5 million annually as a hometown discount. Friedman reported in early September that Swayman was eyeing the $9.5 million annually being earned by defenseman Charlie McAvoy.

"I've also heard the McAvoy contract was the ask," Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast (h/t Colin McCarthy of Boston.com).

Any ask between $8.5 and $9.5 million would be difficult to meet. Boston is one of only six teams with more than $8 million in cap space remaining. Even if it found a trade partner among the other five, no one is going to pay a premium to inherit an ongoing contract standoff.

And while Boston does have Swayman under team control for two more years, the longer he refuses to take the ice, the less leverage the Bruins are going to have in any trade negotiation.

Naturally, they don't want to overpay either, but getting Swayman back with the team—if not by Game 1, early in the season—should be a top priority. If it requires inching to that $64 million number or a little over to mend the proverbial fence, so be it.

Boston is coming off a 47-win season and should be able to make another run. However, getting back to the playoffs will be a challenge without Swayman. Losing him for a cut-rate return would be a downright disaster.

Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was offered a contract worth $64 million, according to team president Cam Neely.

Neely said that Swayman has "$64 million reasons" to be playing, per Matt Porter and Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe.

Swayman, a restricted free agent, has not shown up to training camp as he awaits a new deal.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said that goaltender Jonas Korpisalo is set to open the season for Boston, via Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com.

Swayman played the 2023-24 season on a one-year, $3.475 million contract following a salary arbitration hearing.

He thrived alongside Linus Ullmark, the winner of the 2022-23 Vezina Award. Ullmark and Swayman helped the Bruins maintain an average of just 2.70 goals allowed per game last season, the fifth-best mark among all NHL teams.

Ullmark was traded to the Ottawa Senators in June, seemingly paving the way for Swayman to become the new No. 1 goalie.

However, the Bruins are approaching their regular-season debut on Oct. 8 without a contract agreement with the 25-year-old. If Swayman isn't signed by Dec. 1, he won't be eligible to play during the 2024-25 season.

"He has chosen to wait, and rightfully so, until a contract is settled," Sweeney said on Sept. 18, per Benjamin. "It's our intention to continue to negotiate a contract. I'm disappointed that when you set things as a priority in the general manager spot that you do your best to try and accomplish that and I haven't been able to do that yet."

"At the end of the day I'm optimistic because I think we'll find a landing spot before December 1st," he added.

A potential $64 million deal would make Swayman the fifth-highest paid goaltender in the NHL in terms of overall contract value, per Spotrac.

With no agreement in place, the Bruins appear ready to enter the regular season without the netminder.

The Boston Bruins traded goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators on Monday for a package headlined by a first-round pick in the 2024 draft.

In exchange for Ullmark, the Bruins received forward Mark Kastelic, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and the No. 25 overall pick (per NHL.com). The Senators will retain 25 percent of Korpisalo's salary as part of the deal.

According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, an extension for Ullmark was not part of the trade.

Although Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman established themselves as one of the NHL's top goalie duos over the past three seasons, it was getting harder to justify keeping both due to their respective contract situations.

Ullmark has one season left on a four-year deal worth $20 million that he signed with Boston in 2021 (per Spotrac). As for Swayman, he's currently set to enter restricted free agency once again.

Although the two split time during the regular season, the writing appeared to be on the wall after Ullmark started just one playoff game compared to Swayman's 12 starts. It's also easy to see why the Bruins preferred to keep the 25-year-old Swayman over Ullmark, who'll be 31 years old at the beginning of the regular season.

Still, he hasn't shown too many signs of slowing down after winning the Vezina Trophy in 2023. During his 2023-24 campaign, Ullmark finished with a record of 22-10-7 in 39 starts while allowing an average of 2.57 goals against.

He should immediately help a Senators team that is coming off a 37-41-4 season. Ottawa allowed an average of 3.43 goals per game, the fifth-worst mark among all teams (via NHL.com).

For the Bruins, Kastelic recorded five goals and five assists in 63 games during his 2023-24 campaign while Korpisalo finished with a 21-26-4 record in his 49 starts.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans are all too familiar with the Boston Bruins' Jake DeBrusk.

The left winger has been a Leafs killer for years, tallying six goals and five assists in his 17 career games against Toronto. Four of those assists came in the last three games against Boston's Eastern Conference rival.

As the Maple Leafs look to the offseason and potential free agent additions, though, the team may very well take the "better the devil you know than the devil you don't" approach.

The Toronto Star's Nick Kyperos reported the Leafs are interested in possibly acquiring DeBrusk this offseason.

Of course, that depends on whether Boston signs DeBrusk before the start of free agency on July 1.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery made it clear in an appearance on the NHL Wraparound Podcast that he wants DeBrusk back. He was complimentary of DeBrusk and the openness with which he has approached their conversations.

"One thing you notice, that I really noticed is that every time I talked to him one-on-one, he was very honest about where he thought his play was. We talked a lot about consistency when Jake was on top of his game. Jake was a game breaker for us. He's someone that could change the momentum of a game in one or two shifts because of his tenacity, speed, and skill," (h/t The Hockey News for the transcription).

If DeBrusk is not re-signed, he hits the market and will likely find plenty of suitors, few with the understanding of what he is capable of more than the Leafs.

More importantly, the Leafs are in need of depth at key positions, including left wing. Tyler Bertuzzi showed flashes in his first season with the team but behind him are Kyle Clifford, Nicholas Robertson, and Matthew Knies, none of which are the player that DeBrusk is.

The Bruin put up 40 points with a +/- of four in 16:49 of ice time per game.

His consistency has long been a question but when he has the puck, he has the potential to put it in the net. He is creative offensively and can provide scoring support behind Auston Matthews, William Nylander and the rest of the Leafs core.

The Leafs have other holes that need addressed, including goalie and on the defensive side of the puck.

Adding the quality depth alongside and behind the stars that DeBrusk brings is the sort of move that will, in theory, help the much-maligned organization finally get over the playoff hump and into a Stanley Cup final.

For the Boston Bruins to win their first Stanley Cup since 2011 and seventh overall, the organization must solve an issue that has faced them for the last two seasons: a goaltending controversy involving two of the best at the position in the NHL.

Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have two of the best save percentages in hockey (.915 and .916, respectively) and Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy as the sport's best at his position a year ago.

Both are similarly excellent in the net but Ullmark has a $5 million cap hit to Swayman's $3,475,000 hit. With the team needing other pieces, including a forward and defenseman, the front office must pull the trigger and execute a deal for Ullmark.

The team will have plenty of potential suitors seeking a goalie of that caliber, including the Ottawa Senators, who Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Citizen reported are stepping up their efforts to acquire the all-world goalie.

"League sources say the Senators have circled back to the Bruins to see if there's a fit to acquire Ullmark to steady the club's struggling net, and those talks have intensified," he wrote.

Jacob Markstrom is already off the market following a trade between the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils and Ullmark is, arguably, a better player. With the Bruins missing out on the former, working with Boston to put together a deal for the award-winning goaltender is the right move.

Especially considering the Senators did not have either goalie with a save percentage above .900.

A deal would alleviate the cap space for the Bruins while also exorcising the controversy surrounding which tender will be in the net for which game. While some have suggested that the competition between them pushed Swayman and Ullmark to play at their best whenever they had an opportunity in the net, it also prevented the team from adding the necessary pieces to make a legitimate run at the Stanley Cup.

With the Bruins potentially bringing one of several teams looking to acquire Elias Lindholm in free agency, it will need the financial relief that trading Ullmark would provide.

If the Senators do pursue Ullmark, it will be the second time, as the team failed to put together a deal ahead of the trade deadline.

It is a mutually beneficial deal on the surface. Now, it will be up to the teams involved to put together a fair deal so that the Senators get their goalie and the Bruins can move on to beefing up their lineup as they look to get back to the NHL mountaintop.

For the second straight season, the Boston Bruins' season ended with a loss to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.

Gustav Forsling scored with less than two minutes left in regulation to lead the Panthers to a series-clinching 2-1 victory in Friday night's Game 6.

The Panthers also eliminated the Bruins from the 2023 postseason by winning in Game 7 overtime.

This time Forsling ended the series in six games. He finished the game with five shots, the last of which was enough to eliminate the Bruins.

The Panthers will now advance to face the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Rangers will have home ice advantage after rallying back from a two-goal third-period deficit Thursday to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes in six games.

After making 22 stops against the Bruins in Game 6, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will now face off against Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin in the next round.

Meanwhile Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who was a key reason Boston advanced past the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, finished the loss having turned aside 26 shots.

The Bruins' focus will now turn toward negotiating a new deal with Swayman, who is now a restricted free agent.

The Panthers have the weekend off to celebrate before beginning the battle to return to their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final.

Meanwhile the Rangers are seeking their first Final trip since 2014 as they welcome the Panthers to New York for Wednesday's Game 1. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden.

Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand has missed the past two games of the series against the Florida Panthers while dealing with an injury inflicted by Sam Bennett, but he said teams trying to injure opponents is just part of the game, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

"People don't want to say it, but part of playoffs is trying to hurt every player on the other team," Marchand said. "The more guys you take out, the more advantage your team has.

"Every time you step on the ice, someone is trying to hurt someone. That's just how it goes in the playoffs. That's part of the benefit of having a physical group. That's why you rarely see teams that are small and skilled go far. Because they get hurt."

Marchand took a shot to the upper body from Panthers' Bennett in Game 3, leaving him off the ice for Games 4 and 5. The Bruins lost Game 4 but staved off elimination by winning Game 5.

Marchand's injury came after he went to check Bennett near the wall and Bennett appeared to throw a punch aimed at Marchand, sending him to the ice and forcing him to miss the next two games.

Bennett denied any ill intent behind the hit, saying he was simply preparing for the impact from Marchand.

"I'm trying to brace myself. There's no way I would have had time to think about punching him in the face like everyone," Bennett said after Game 4.

Marchand recognizes that Bennett, who was not penalized on the play, might have gotten away with the hit, but he holds no bitterness given the circumstances.

"I think he got away with a shot," Marchand said. "But I'm not going to complain. S--t happens. That's part of playoff hockey. I've been on the other side of a lot of plays."

Marchand has notched two points during the series and has recorded three goals and seven assists this postseason. He has not been ruled out for Game 6 on Friday, but coach Jim Montgomery said the left wing has "got boxes to check" before he is given the go-ahead to return to the ice.

The Boston Bruins are still alive.

Led by goals from Morgan Geekie and Charlie McAvoy—along with 28 saves from goalie Jeremy Swayman—the Bruins staved off elimination and defeated the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, 2-1.

Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal for Florida, while Sergei Bobrovsky was superb in net despite taking the loss:

The Panthers still hold a 3-2 advantage in the series.

But Tuesday night was all about Boston, and NHL fans and pundits alike were impressed by the resolve the team showed to keep its season alive:

We might still be playing hockey if it wasn't for one key moment in the waning seconds, however.

Swayman came up with the play of the game, sliding across his crease to deny Reinhart in the final minute, preserving the win and keeping Boston's season on life support:

Boston has had a fascinating postseason. The Bruins got out to a 3-1 series lead against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, only to lose the next two games. That set up a pivotal Game 7 at home, and the Bruins survived in overtime, winning 2-1.

Now, it's the Bruins who are attempting to even the series after falling in a 3-1 hole. Normally, a home game would bring a level of confidence in that effort, though the Panthers already won both games at TD Garden this series and Boston is just 2-4 at home in the postseason.

But that's the past. All that matters is that Boston's season is alive for at least one more game, with the series resuming on Friday.