Shinzawa: Bruins and Jeremy Swayman talks have gone sideways. It’s just work

BOSTON – Negotiations between Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins have gone off the rails. President Cam Neely said Monday that the team came up with a $64 million offer in a creative way. Louis Gross, Swayman’s agent, responded later Monday that such an offer was a fantasy.

“We are very disappointed,” Gross posted on his Instagram account. “This was not fair to Jeremy. “We’ll take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”

It seems that a solution is not on the horizon.

If Gross went so far as to question Neely’s honesty, it’s safe to say his client did not respond well to his boss’s announcement. That doesn’t bode well for how Gross and general manager Don Swinney will steer the talks back on track. Swayman is not designed to compromise when he feels insulted.

“Constant, consistent communication with his representatives,” Sweeney said, ahead of Neely’s $64 million offer, about how he dealt with Gross. “We still have a gap to fill. We will try to continue to do that.”

Sweeney and Gross have no choice but to clear the air. The risks are too high.

It is a fool’s errand to determine whether it was Neely or Gross who practiced the manufacturing. This is work, plain and simple. In such cases, the truth is regularly overstated when dollars and years—large numbers of both—are discussed.

It was pure business, then, that Neely, CEO Charlie Jacobs and coach Jim Montgomery all reached into the negotiating toolbox to unveil the offer, stress that the Bruins are a top team and that Joonas Korpisalo would be the starter for Game 1. None of it was personal. These were mechanisms, as they may seem, to advance negotiations and enhance the brand.

In the same way, it was work that prompted Gross to respond and call Neely, the great hockey player and cheeseburger, a liar. It was significant that Gross announced that he would take a few days to regroup, suggesting that returning quickly to the negotiating table is not something he is willing to do.

Time will tell how the matter will develop, and both parties believe that time is on their side.

For the Bruins, the silver lining of this predicament is how they have elevated Korpisalo and Brandon Posey to the top of the organizational ladder. With the No. 1 goalie out of the picture, Korpisalo and Bossy have gained significant reps during preseason games and practices under goalkeeping coach Bob Essensa.

So far, Korpisalo has taken advantage of this opportunity. He passed two pre-season tests.

“Our staff has done a really good job of getting to know the players that are here. That’s where the focus has been put in,” Sweeney said. “Bob Essensa has worked — as I mentioned earlier in camp, he’ll work extensively with all of our goalies — and he “He is satisfied with the work Korpisalo has done so far.”

At the same time, Swayman will take a moment, Gross noted, to respond to a $64 million offer his agent said he never received. Since Montgomery has already announced that Game 1 is off the table, Swayman has little reason to put pen to paper in the coming days.

That may change.

The employer has options in Korpisalo and Busi. If the Bruins play to their strengths during the early part of the regular season, they can manage without Swayman.

Meanwhile, the employee has nothing.

If he doesn’t sign by mid-October, Swayman will lose his starting salary. The second will come at the end of the month.

The 25-year-old will earn a salary of $3.475 million for 2023-24. Soyman is not married. He has no children. But even if he hoards his money for a rainy day, there’s only so long a young man in downtown Boston can live happily without an income.

Not only that, but Swayman will lose everything that comes with his reward: the way to play, the competition, and the company of his teammates. As for the latter, the results of an informal player poll following Neely’s comments indicated that Swayman had the chamber’s support – to a point.

“The only time I can see it getting a bit weird would be if we didn’t start well and felt like it could be,” said one player, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about his teammate and employer. Help us.”

At the beginning of camp, Swinney made sure to mention Dec. 1 twice, which is the deadline for Swayman to sign a contract if he wants to play this season.

In such situations, the business always has more to lose than management.

Nerves are running high on both sides. But Sweeney and Gross will reduce tensions and resume negotiations. Explosions are part of the job. There is too much at stake for the dispute to continue.

(Photo: Maddy Meyer/Getty Images)