Has Jeremy Swayman Done Enough to Prove He is a Number One?
As training camps open, the focus is only on the players who have not signed contracts yet. The keyword is yet because anything can happen with one phone call change. And all eyes will be on Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins.
As NHLRumors.com has documented throughout the summer, the restricted free-agent goalie is looking to move into the upper echelon when it comes to being paid like a top-tier goaltender.
Last off-season, he signed a one-year, $3.475 million deal to remain with the Bruins. Swayman lived up to the contract with a a 25-10-8 record with a 2.53 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. He did this by splitting time with Linus Ullmark, who is now in Ottawa. So it is Swayman’s net.
He has a 2.34 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage for his career. So do these numbers warrant being paid like a top goaltender in the league?
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According to TSN Hockey Analyst and former NHL goalie Jamie McLennan, who spoke with NHLRumors.com, do we know what Swayman is as a goalie?
“Like Swayman. The only thing with Swayman is that Swayman wants a boatload of money,” McLennan said. “I would ask you this: What is He? Is he a clear-cut one? Is he a tandem one? There are different layers to goalies now.”
As McLennan stated, there are eight superstar goalies they include Igor Shesterkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, Sergei Bobrovsky, Juuse Saros, Ilya Sorokin, and Jake Oettinger.
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And what Swayman is asking for and what he has done, does he fall in that category?
“The superstar numbers are Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck, Demko, name the eight. There are eight of them, McLennan said. “Bobrovsky, there you go because Bobrovsky has played the games.
So, is Swayman in those, in that eight? Or is he a layer below it, or do they believe he’s going to be? I think that’s why it’s probably so tough to find a contract for him. What is he as a number one? We haven’t seen it yet, right? I say yet because I, and if you’re quoting, me on Swayman, I say yet because I think he’s a hell of a goalie.
I think he is a star goalie. But, you know, they’re probably going, God, we wish we had one more year to figure out where he falls. That’s the biggest thing. What I mean by fall is, like, is he a 60-game guy, or a 55 or a 50 like that type of stuff.”
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We have seen Jeremy Swayman play as a tandem goalie in Boston. He took over the reins in the playoffs after Game 2 in Round 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and never looked back.
Though the Bruins fell in Round 2 against the Florida Panthers, Swayman finished with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in the 12 games he started.
Those are great numbers. And that is probably why he is looking to get paid like one of the top guys in the NHL.
It seems that Jeremy Swayman is on the verge of cracking the top eight goalies in the league, if not already there.