Boston Bruins & Jeremy Swayman avoid going to arbitration, but work still needs to done

Last summer, the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman could not work out a contract and ended up settling through arbitration on a one-year deal for $3.475 million. Swayman once again this summer is a restricted free agent (RFA) and the deadline has come and gone for filing arbitration in a surprising, but hopefully good sign, neither the player nor team filed.

Swayman had until 5 p.m. Friday night to file and did not, while the Bruins had until 5 p.m. Saturday night to file and did not, according to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. That can be taken a few different ways, but in the bigger picture, it hopefully means that both sides are getting closer to settling a new long-term deal for the former University of Maine standout.

Don Sweeney avoids major mistake with Jeremy Swayman

If there was one thing that appeared to happen last summer when Swayman and the Bruins went to arbitration, it appeared to upset the Alaska native. In fact, after playing behind former teammate Linus Ullmark on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy, Swayman once again split the net this season with Ullmark, but in the playoffs, he played in 12 of the 13 postseason games.

In fact, he was the single reason why the Black and Gold avoided blowing a 3-1 series lead for the second consecutive season when he was stellar in a 2-1 Game 7 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round with 30 saves. He played well enough in the second round against the Florida Panthers, but his teammates struggled to score against Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky after Game 1.

After free agency Monday, the Bruins have $8,636,666 million remaining in cap space and you have to think that nearly all of that will go to Swayman with a new deal. An eight-year deal with an $8 million AAV is about what Boston should be giving their young netminder, but it remains to be seen what happens. When GM Don Sweeney met with the media Monday afternoon following the first day of free agency, he said the following about Swayman,

Sway is a big part of this whole dynamic of what we're trying to put together. It’s a priority for us. We're going to continue to find a negotiated landing spot, and the timing is what it is, however long that takes. … We're in a great spot to find, as I said, the best negotiated deal we can find for both sides.

Did what happened last season hurt Swayman? Likely, but Sweeney avoided going down that road again for a second consecutive summer and now needs to pay one of the better goalies in the NHL and fill a need that should be Swayman's for the next decade.