Lewis Gross drops shocking statement about Jeremy Swayman & Bruins striking a deal

One week ago, the Boston Bruins management met with the media for their preseason State of the Club press conference. Of course, it didn't take long for Jeremy Swayman and his lack of contract to come into question to Charlie Jacobs, Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, and Jim Montgomery.

You could sense the frustration in Sweeney's voice, but Neely took it with a grain of salt and dropped a subtle response. Neely said, “I know that I’d have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.'' Later that night, Swayman's agent Lewis Gross released a statement later that night, but little did we know that behind closed doors it jump-started a deal getting done.

Lewis Gross explains Cam Neely's comment got things rolling

Monday, Gross spoke to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and touched on a number of subjects, including Swayman and how his deal got done. He told LeBrun that Neely's comment got the ball rolling to get a deal done to keep the former University of Maine goalie in the Black and Gold for a very long time.

“In a lot of ways, it jump-started these negotiations,” Gross said. “Because we talked a lot. We both had to express ourselves, Don and I, about what we had just experienced. And having done this for over 30 years, any time you have a chance to speak, you have a chance to come to a resolution.

“If you don’t speak, you’re not going to get a resolution. So I think (Neely’s declaration) in a lot of ways jump-started these negotiations and helped us get it to the finish line.”

At the time the comment was made, social media went nuts and thought that this was going to end with Swayman and Gross requesting a trade. Instead, things went quiet, very quiet for nearly a week before it was announced Sunday morning that a deal was struck for eight years. Never underestimate the power of a subtle comment.