Bruins vs. Swayman: Insider Reveals Who Was Telling The Truth About $64M Offer

We're all trying to make sense of the fireworks that ensued in the media on Monday in the ongoing Boston Bruins/Jeremy Swayman saga. Bruins president Cam Neely insinuated that he made a $64 million offer to the RFA goaltender (presumed to be 8 years x $8M AAV), but the player's agent quickly shot back that no such number has ever been offered.

Insider Frank Seravalli has done some digging, and on the Daily Faceoff Morning Cuppa Coffee podcast, he reveals the answer on who was telling the truth about the $64 million question:

To me, this really seems like a tactical error for the Bruins. This felt like a team that was cracking under the weight of probably not having their future No. 1 in net to start the season. There's obviously some frustration.
I don't think that they put a $64 million offer on the table. In fact, my understanding is that the Bruins have offered eight years x $7.8 million, which is $62.4 million. So maybe Cam Neely had a little fun with numbers...

Yes, that's 'only' a $1.6M discrepancy from what was on the table, but it seems that the fact that the Bruins brought the negotiations out into the open through the media is likely what really peeved the goalie and his agent, Lewis Gross.

Or as Seravalli put it, Gross is likely saying, "'Wait a second, you're now attempting to bully (Swayman) into signing a deal, change the marketplace's viewpoint of him, and make him out to be greedy and selfish. You're attempting to vilify this player publicly.'"

Seravalli went on to reiterate his earlier reporting that he feels that the Swayman camp is looking for an eight-year deal worth at least $8.5 million annually, which would be $68 million in total. The Bruins, he says, started their offer at about $6.5 million, which means "they've moved a lot" and, as he suggests, they might be saying, in so many words, "'Hey, we've moved a ton, now it's your turn.'"

Can the Bruins edge up from their $7.8M to $8M, or will the Swayman camp come down from $8.5M?

With just over a week to go until opening night, and Gross saying they'll be "taking a few days" to assess where things are at, the chances of Swayman being between the pipes on Oct. 9th to start the season for Boston are quickly slipping away.