Bruins beat writer offers extremely grim Jeremy Swayman outlook ahead of camp

We are less than a week away from the Boston Bruins beginning training camp at Warrior Ice Arena. GM Don Sweeney has one bit of business with his roster to tend and it's a big one. Goalie Jeremy Swayman is still without a contract for the upcoming season and beyond. It's turning into a rather worrisome situation after Sweeney traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators back in June.

A once strong position is now a position of concern currently going into camp. Of course that can change if Swayman and the Bruins can agree on a contract, but if they can't, the Black and Gold are looking at a Joonas Korpisalo and Brandon Bussi duo. One Boston Bruins beat writer can see the contract negotiations going into the start of training camp.

Boston Bruins beat writer offers grim Jeremy Swayman contract outlook

Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic appeared on the "Pucks with Haggs" podcast with other Bruins writers, Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal and Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, and offered a grim outlook with Swayman less than a week before camp begins for the 2024-25 season.

"I wouldn't be surprised if this goes into camp and he's not signed," said Shinzawa. "I think we've come to know Jeremy as someone who is very sure of himself, very confident, very secure in what he's done and what he can be. That said he has literally never been a number one regular season goalie. There's no comparable there aside from Vasilevsky and he had already has two years of number one regular season performance."

This is turning into what could be a Bruins fan's nightmare, not having their top goalie signed and ready for camp. Shinzawa is correct, however, about Swayman not being a No. 1 netminder after sharing the duties with Ullmark the last couple of seasons. Boston is likely hesitant to give the former University of Maine standout a huge deal without carrying the load of a No. 1 who hasn't played 55-plus games a year.

Regardless, the Bruins starting camp without Swayman, who has been working out this summer at Warrior Ice Arena and attended captains practices a week go, would be a tough blow and it puts more pressure on getting a deal done before the Oct. 8 season opener against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in South Florida.