Report: Bruins To Start Camp With Joonas Korpisalo As Top Netminder

The Jeremy Swayman standoff with the Boston Bruins is about to get real. The Bruins will be opening training camp on Wednesday, and they'll be doing it, apparently, with newly acquired Joonas Korpisalo as their top goaltender.

About the restricted free agent Swayman and the ongoing deadlock in contract negotiations, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, “Kick it down the road... We’ll talk next week.”

The latest update that we had came early last week, when insider Elliotte Friedman said that the two sides were still a fair ways apart, and that the Bruins have been putting the squeeze on their supposed new solo No. 1 goaltender due to the fact that he really hasn't taken on a full load yet in any season.

Another rumor said that the Bruins' front office hadn't returned Swayman's calls for three weeks.

Swayman was part of a fairly even timeshare with the departed Linus Ullmark for the past three seasons, and even shared in the Jennings Trophy with his hug buddy in 2022-23. But the 25-year-old has also not started more than 43 games in a season yet, and the Bruins likely want to see him prove it as a full-time No. 1.

Overall, Swayman sports a 79-33-15 mark with a 2.34 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

There really isn't a recent comparable contract, as Swayman is much younger and more unproven (at least on a long-term basis) than the recently-signed Juuse Saros (8 years, $7.74M AAV) in Nashville. Some rumors have Swayman's camp asking for a higher AAV than Saros, and that is something the Bruins might be unwilling to do. There are other rumors that the team has 'lowballed' the goalie with a $6.2 million AAV offer.

In a worst-case scenario, the two sides have until December 1st to hammer something out, or Swayman would be declared ineligible for the 2024-25 season and Stanley Cup Playoffs.