I think the best thing you can say about the situation between the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman, which finally and mercifully came to an end Sunday morning, is that it did not come with another statement from either side.

When Bruins president Cam Neely threw the gauntlet and dropped the ‘64 million reasons why’ line last week — and when Swayman’s camp responded the way they did, by all means calling Neely and the Bruins liars — it was the first time in this entire summer-long stalemate that I went “uh oh.”

To that point, there had never been a doubt in my mind that the Bruins and Swayman were going to find a landing spot. The Bruins told me as much, and Swayman himself actually told me as much two months ago. But that bomb and the bomb thrown back? It had me sweating.

Luckily, a $66 million towel was thrown our way Sunday when the sides came to terms on an eight-year contract with an $8.25 million AAV.

My first thought? Good. Great, even.

Am I absolutely over the moon in love with paying Swayman top-five money after 132 career appearances? Give me truth serum and I’ll say 2024 Ty Anderson doesn’t outright love it. But I will say that I love my odds of 2028 Ty Anderson loving it (a note to ‘28 TA: please stop eating candy all the time, you’re getting too old). And the present-day me would also tell you that I don’t see what other option the Bruins truly had at the end of the day.

Let’s, for the sake of this exercise, look beyond the Bruins trading Linus Ullmark and by all means handcuffing themselves to a long-term marriage with Swayman. After going to arbitration a year ago, and after admitting that it was not the ideal path for either side, the Bruins basically began their 2023-24 season saying (or challenging, really) the 25-year-old Swayman to prove them wrong and establish himself as a big-money goaltender.

Swayman’s campaign? An All-Star Game nod, and most importantly, the nod for all but one of Boston’s 13 playoff games, where he was absolutely otherworldly for a B’s club that probably should’ve lost in Round 1.

Swayman was, in my opinion, the absolute best goaltender we saw in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. I don’t care if the Bruins’ results didn’t back that up, and I don’t care that there’s not another banner being raised to the Garden rafters because of it. He was everything and more to the Bruins.

If the Bruins were to look at that performance — and after issuing the challenge they did — and say, “Hmm. Not enough, sorry,” then I really don’t know what sort of standard you would’ve set for future contract negotiations with any player. You truly would’ve made it ‘Cup or bust’ for any player. The odds are simply never going to be on any player’s side if that’s the bar set.

The natural complaint or criticism of this deal comes back to Swayman’s obviously-limited sample size to date. And, yes, I understand it. But it’s a bit too close to punishing a player for something they can’t control.

I also find that argument to be a bit… outdated. Truth be told, I don’t want my $8.25 million goalie playing 60-plus games. I think it’s an antiquated way of thinking, especially when you look at the grind of an average NHL schedule with its four-in-sevens and back-to-backs, typically later in a year.

And going back to last year, just five goaltenders started over 55 games. That list featured the Oilers’ Stuart Skinner, Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, the Avalanche’s Alexandar Georgiev, and Nashville’s Juuse Saros.

And here’s a look at how those goalies fared after their 55th start (including playoffs):
Bobrovsky: 18-8-1 record, .910 save percentage, 2.24 goals against average.
Georgiev: 7-8-2 record, .880 save percentage, 3.48 goals against average.
Hellebuyck: 6-4-0 record, .902 save percentage, 3.44 goals against average.
Saros: 6-7-1 record, .892 save percentage, 3.01 goals against average.
Skinner: 15-10-0 record, .896 save percentage, 2.56 goals against average.

It’s also worth noting that two of those goalies were knocked out in the first round (Hellebuyck and Saros), and that they honestly looked gassed by the grind they were put through down the stretch. And the Bruins, for better or worse, are closer to those teams from a team construct standpoint than they are Florida or Edmonton.

And let’s look at what the Bruins did in the offseason: They went out and added the best left-side defensive option in Nikita Zadorov and the best two-way center available in Elias Lindholm. They are all in on building from their net out, and it turns out that completing that picture with the guy in net is a requirement for this team to be as good as we hope.

Bruins announce Opening Night roster

It doesn't appear that Hurricane Milton is going to delay the Bruins' start to the 2024-25 NHL season, with both the Bruins and Panthers telling people that as of right now (a little after midnight in Boston) that it is game on at Amerant Bank Arena.

(I'm not gonna lie, I canceled my flights to and from FLL about two hours before takeoff. Loved my odds of getting down there... hated my odds of getting out on Wednesday morning. Also dreamt up the doomsday scenario of getting on the plane with the game scheduled and getting off with the game postponed. Anyway, hope you all down in Florida stay safe.)

But nevertheless, Monday did come with Boston's roster announced, which went about the way you would've expected it (for the most part) back in July.

Up front, the Bruins will roll with a top-six forward group that slots Elias Lindholm between Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak, while Morgan Geekie will begin the year as 'RW2' with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle. Boston's third line will have a different look, too, with Trent Frederic playing center on a line with Max Jones and Justin Brazeau on the wings, while Cole Koepke's strong preseason has earned him a look with Johnny Beecher and Mark Kastelic on the Black and Gold's fourth line. The towering Riley Tufte, meanwhile, will be the 13th skater.

On the backend, the Bruins will reunite Hampus Lindholm with Charlie McAvoy, slot Mason Lohrei to the left of Brandon Carlo, and put forth a third pairing with Zadorov opposite Andrew Peeke. Parker Wotherspoon, who play both the left and right side, is the seventh D.

And in goal, it'll be Joonas Korpisalo and Jeremy Swayman. Korpisalo is projected to get the call on Opening Night, but Jim Montgomery did not rule out Swayman getting the nod.

Everything else

- Forward Matt Poitras is going to begin the year on the Non-Roster Injured list. The Bruins are still looking at him as day-to-day. Honestly, I'd send him down to Providence when he's fully healthy and ready to go. Let him get his legs back in a pressure-free environment where minutes (and lots of 'em) can be had.

- On the goalie front, the Bruins lost Jiri Patera on the waiver wire (he's going back to the Canucks), while Brandon Bussi cleared and will report to AHL Providence.

- Some cool career news: If you were listening to 98.5 The Sports Hub last Saturday morning, you heard that I've been tabbed as the next host of The Hockey Show, which will air every Saturday from 9-11 AM. I'm super excited and grateful for the opportunity, and I hope you'll tune in and even call in if you're so inclined.

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