Boston Bruins to lose Jeremy Swayman by offersheet? Major development

PUBLICATION

Joshua Deeds
August 17, 2024 (5:25 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

After the St. Louis Blues offer sheeted Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, it has set off red flags for fans of the Boston Bruins. Fans fear Jeremy Swayman could be offer sheeted after the recent happenings.

The goalie is an RFA and hasn't sought arbitration, but the negotiations seem to have reached a stalemate nevertheless.

But according to Dominic Tiano, it's unlikely that Swayman will receive an offer sheet this season.

Here's a bit of the CBA which could explain why no team will offer-sheet him:

Any Club that is entitled to but does not exercise its Right of First Refusal pursuant to Section 10.3 shall be entitled to obtain Draft Choice Compensation from the New Club. The number and quality of draft choices due to the Prior Club shall be based on the average annual value of the compensation contained in the Principal Terms (as defined in Section 10.3(e) hereof) of the New Club's Offer Sheet (determined by dividing such compensation by the lesser of the number of years of the Offer Sheet or five), based on the following scale:

Under $1.51 million - no compensation

$1.51 million to $2.29 million - 3rd round pick

$2.29 million to $4.48 million - 2nd round pick

$4.58 million - $6.87 million - 1st and 3rd round picks

$6.87 million - $9.16 million - 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks

$9.16 million - $11.45 million - two firsts, 2nd and 3rd round picks

$11.45 million + - four first round picks.

According to PuckPedia the Bruins currently have $8.6 Million cap space, of which they may have to use all of it to entice Swayman to sign. This is the maximum they could match for a Swayman offer sheet. They also have to maintain a 22-person roster, and sending a player down to Providence could increase the cap space to $9.4 Million and $9.6 Million depending upon who is sent down.

It's well known that Swayman is looking for a long-term deal, so they could offer him a 7-year option. Which could prove challenging for any team to make Swayman an offer to sign. If they even offer $8.2 Million, the Bruins could match, so they'd need to go above that amount to sign Swayman.

For Swayman, a 7-year, $8.2 Million AAV would cost $57.4 Million in compensation, but using CBA language you divide that by 5 to find compensation for the sheet.

This means, a team would have to give up four first-round picks for Swayman, which no team in their right mind would give up.

Only the Blue Jackets, Ducks, Sharks, Sabres, Flames, Utah HC, and Red Wings are teams who could make the math work. But only Detroit and Utah HC have the ability to forego the compensation of that many first-round draft picks without negatively affecting their long-term outlook.

The Wings themselves are still trying to sign Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, It seems unlikely that they'd accept a $9.4 Million split two ways after signing Swayman for $8.2 Million AAV.