Bruins sign Swayman to 8-year, $66M contract

The Boston Bruins and restricted free-agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman ended their stalemate Sunday by agreeing on an eight-year, $66-million contract.

Swayman's new cap hit comes in at $8.25 million per year, tying Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders as the fifth-highest-paid netminder in the NHL.

The Bruins and Swayman butted heads over the goaltender's new deal for most of the offseason, and negotiations leaked into training camp. Swayman can now be on Boston's opening-night roster, which teams have to submit by Monday at 5 p.m. ET.

"The motivation is a Stanley Cup, through and through. That's all I care about." Swayman said Sunday, per NESN.

"I can guarantee you that this step, and this chapter in my career, is going to motivate me above and beyond what I have had before. And again, the end goal is to win a Stanley Cup, and I believe this is a group that can do it and have shots at it many years. Every year I'm apart of it, I'm going to make sure that's a reality."

The Bruins are now approximately $386,000 under the $88-million salary cap, according to PuckPedia.

Swayman and the Bruins reportedly both wanted a max-term deal, but value was the sticking point. Last week, Boston president Cam Neely said Swayman has "64-million reasons" to be playing, but the goaltender's agent said the team never made him such an offer.

Despite the publicly aired drama, Neely was adamant Swayman never expressed a desire to leave Boston.

Swayman took over Linus Ullmark's starting job last season and was Boston's primary goaltender in the playoffs. The Bruins traded Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators this summer, clearing a path for Swayman to fully take the reins after deploying the NHL's most successful goaltending tandem for the past few years.

Swayman went 25-10-8 in 44 appearances last season with a .916 save percentage. He elevated his game in the playoffs, posting a .933 clip in 12 games before the Bruins were eliminated in the second round by the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins drafted Swayman in the fourth round in 2017.