Bruins and Swayman finally close on a new contract?

The Boston Bruins' training camp officially opens up a week tomorrow and the team is still missing a major part of its roster.

Goaltender Jeremy Swayman remains a restricted free agent and, by all indications, he's not ready to sign with the team just yet.

Last week Spittin' Chiclets host Ryan Whitney reported that the Bruins and Swayman 'aren't even on the same planet' when it comes to contract negotiations.

Whitney reported yesterday that while Swayman is seeking a deal from the Bruins similar to the eight year, $9.5 million AAV that Charlie McAvoy signed in 2021. So... what's the Bruins' offer?

Four years at $6.2 million.

Uh... what?

What's even more concerning though is that Whitney reports that Bruins GM Don Sweeney offered up that deal to Swayman and then simply ignored calls from Swayman and his agent for the next three weeks.

From Whitney:

If the Bruins' offer is just four years at $6.2 million AFTER trading away Linus Ullmark... that's just an absolute class in how to negotiate against yourself from Sweeney. The Bruins have zero leverage in this negotiation and it looks to me like they were simply counting on Swayman to take the 'nice guy' discount just to help out the team. That might still be the case, but a discount is probably more in the $8.5 - $9 million annual range... not $6.2 milion.

Today TSN insider Darren Dreger reports that Swayman and the Bruins may be actually closer in negotiations than Whitney has lead Bruins fans to believe.

"I think Jeremy Swayman has played this out perfectly," Dreger said on Toronto's TSN 1050 radio this morning. "He stayed in Boston and skated with his teammates and made sure that everyone there knew that he's committed to being the Boston Bruins' starting goaltender."

"I've read some of the numbers... when you look at the resume of Jeremy Swayman, he hasn't played a ton in the National Hockey League so I think Boston is a little reluctant to give him the mega-bucks. What we know is that you can't afford to have your #1 goaltender sitting in the weeds to start the season, so I think they're going to get something done. I think the negotiations are probably closer than what we're reading about."

Do with that info what you may, Bruins fans.

One thing is always true in these negotiations and that's that one phone call can change everything. So... who calls who to get this done?