Jeremy Swayman
Coming off his three-year, entry-level contract with the NHL’s Boston Bruins, goaltender Jeremy Swayman of Anchorage was due a significant raise after a career season in 2022-23.
The 24-year-old cashed in Tuesday.
Scoop unit Elliotte Friedman reported an arbitrator awarded Swayman a one-year deal for $3.475 million, a three-fold increase over his entry-level deal of three years for $3.15 million.
The arbitrator basically split the difference between Boston’s reported ask for $2 million for next season and Swayman’s ask for $4.8 million.
Swayman last season went 24-6-4 with a 2.27 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and four shutouts. He split time with Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark and the duo won the Jennings Award for fewest goals allowed.
Swayman is one of just two current NHL players from Alaska. The other is Los Angeles Kings goalie Pheonix Copley, 31, of North Pole, likewise coming off a career season. Copley, who will make $1.5 million in the upcoming season, last season savored an NHL resurrection in which he went 24-6-3, 2.64 and .903, with one shutout. His rise from the American Hockey League enabled the Kings to solve their goaltending crisis and qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Swayman and Ullmark, meanwhile, backstopped the Bruins to the best regular season in NHL history.
In his three NHL seasons, Swayman has gone 54-23-7, 2.24 and .920, with nine shutouts.
He and Ullmark will need to remain sharp for Boston to succeed in 2023-24. Future first-ballot Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron recently announced his retirement and fellow veteran center David Krejci could do the same. Either way, the Bruins are thin down the middle.
Boston also is hard up against the salary cap, likely one reason its ask of the arbitrator was such a low-ball offer.
Swayman is a former Maine All-American. He was the Hockey East Player of the Year in 2020, when he joined a list that includes NHL notables Brian Leetch, Paul Kariya, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Cale Makar and Conklin.