By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
The Boston Bruins drop the puck in just eight days, but the unsigned Jeremy Swayman stole the show at the team’s start-of-season press conference Monday at TD Garden. While the rest of the Bruins were hitting the Garden ice for practice before hosting Philadelphia Tuesday in their fifth preseason matchup, questions regarding Swayman’s contract status loomed over the half-hour press conference.
Cam Neely didn’t mince words about the situation, revealing that Boston offered the netminder $64 million while admitting he’s surprised by Swayman’s asking price.
“Well, I don’t want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now,” he said.
Don Sweeney had no other update on where the talks currently stand. Swayman has until Dec. 1 to ink a deal, or he will sacrifice a year of service time and won’t be able to suit up in 2024-25. Swayman is coming off an impressive postseason run, boasting a 2.55 goals against average and .933 save percentage, but has failed to play more than 44 games in a season—a number that is certainly being used against him in negotiations.
But goalie talk aside, there were plenty of other notable developments from management and players alike on the final day of September on Causeway. Here are three non-Swayman takeaways from Monday:
Management has high expectations for the 2024-25 Bruins
Regardless if Swayman occupies the crease this season, Bruins brass seem to be ever so confident in the group they currently have—although Swayman would certainly make a huge difference.
Elias Lindholm is a big reason for that optimism, perhaps Boston’s biggest free agent signing this summer in an attempt to provide the club with a proper first-line center. The 29-year-old has defined himself as a reliable two-way option up the middle, recording 44 points last season between stints with the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. In 2021-22, he netted a career-best 42-40-82 and was a jawing +61. Already drawing comparisons to Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins are hoping they can tap into his previous stream of production to fill that void.
“His 200-foot game is remarkable.” Neely echoed. “I don’t want to put him in the Patrice category, but he’s Patrice-like.”
On the flip side of the spectrum, Nikita Zadorov is the other offseason pickup that has the Bruins primed to pack more snarl on the blue line throughout this season. While touted for his physical play, the 6-foot-6 giant has been praised for a rather underrated offensive toolbox.
“He’s a presence,” Charlie McAvoy reinforced Monday. “He’s got a good two-way game, and I think his biggest thing is he’s big, and he’s mean. You’ve seen that in all of his stops. He’s somebody you have to keep your head up for out there.”
And because the Bruins are bigger, faster, and tougher, it has management confident the team is in a place where they can be a serious “cup contender.” Specifically, being able to match up with a team like the Florida Panthers, who have eliminated the Bruins from the postseason two years in a row.
“I look forward to the opportunity in playoffs,” said head coach Jim Montgomery. “No matter who we play, because we got to get there first. But if it happens to be Florida, I like our group and where we’re going to grow throughout the year.”
Prospects still have an opportunity
The Bruins made a sizeable amount of roster cuts Sunday, assigning 17 total players to Providence Bruins training camp along with Kasimir Kaskisuo, who was released from his PTO. It was a rather surprising move to send top prospects Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov to the AHL before October given their promise and raw talent that was beginning to show itself in preseason action.
Lysell—who has emerged as the most exciting name of the group—had a rather slow start to preseason action before finding twine against the Washington Capitals at the TD Garden last week. While Lysell will join Merkulov and a handful of other prospects in Providence, it doesn’t mean they are stuck there for the foreseeable future. Sweeney stressed the sentiment that training camp is far from over and that they are still evaluating their pool of players.
“Everybody sees the skill set that Fabian has, and we’re excited about it,” said Sweeney. “Now we continue to allow him to fill in the gaps in terms of building a team game, and Monty feels a big part of what the growing staff success is, and all the young players go through that process. But he’ll get another opportunity and hopefully takes advantage”
The Bruins have three preseason games remaining on the docket this week before heading to Florida to open the season against the defending Stanley Cup winners. Until then, that second-line slot that Bruins fans urged to be filled by a young prospect will be up for grabs among a group of veterans in the Bruins locker room. Morgan Geekie or even Matt Poitras could be candidates to don the role.
Montgomery contract talks remain ongoing
As it turns out, Swayman isn’t the only Bruin working on a contract. Montgomery is currently signed through the remainder of the 2024-25 season and has not yet agreed to an extension with the team. But as it currently stands, Montgomery is floating in “lame duck” territory as a sitting coach without an extension. Sweeney emphasized a position with Montgomery that suggests a desire to resign him.
“I think it was really important to make sure that Monty knows that when we went through the interview process, we hired a good coach who we believe is a good coach would like to extend to be our coach,” said Sweeney. “Our discussions will be ours and the internal and where he feels his landing spot needs to be. But I think it was really important to make sure he knew what our intentions are.”
Neely echoed similar words, emphasizing how good of a communicator he is and that he likes the way all of the staff are progressing. In two seasons with the Bruins, Montgomery has posted a potent 112-32-20 record that has resulted in a pair of playoff exits by the Panthers—including the devastating 2023 rout amid Boston’s franchise-best season that saw them accumulate 65 wins and 135 points.
“His communication skills is right up there with some of the other coaches that have success in this league,” he said. “Very collaborative with his staff. I think he has no problem delegating, and I think they work extremely well together. So things right there tell me that we’ve got a good coach, and he’s still learning along the way, as we all are in our positions, but I’m happy with the development of our staff and where we’re headed right now.”
Quick hits
– Mason Lohrei quarterbacked the second power play unit at practice Monday, opposite to Charlie McAvoy commanding his unit down the other end of the ice. McAvoy said he hasn’t talked with Boston’s rising blue liner about the responsibilities of the role but that he is impressed with the newcomer’s offensive talents.
-Joonas Korpisalo was named the game 1 starter by Montgomery. While Korpisalo said he was unaware of any designation, Montgomery explained that even if Swayman were to sign today, he wouldn’t be ready for NHL action.
-Elias Lindholm got reps with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha after Lindholm was previously sporting a non-contact jersey on Sunday. He was a full participant Monday. “I’m excited to build a chemistry with him before we get going,” said Pastrnak.
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