Bruins approach important deadline in Swayman negotiations.

The Boston Bruins appear poised to let their negotiations with restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman play out naturally over the course of the summer.

On Friday, it was revealed that 14 restricted free agents in the National Hockey League had elected for salary arbitration in front of a neutral arbitrator, with Swayman not included on that list. That of course left the Bruins the option of selecting for a hearing in front of a neutral arbitrator themselves, but that window is now rapidly closing.

In fact the Bruins now have only a few hours to use that tool should they choose to do so, with the deadline for the Bruins to file for arbitration at 5 pm EST on Saturday.

Of course the Bruins can simply choose to let that deadline pass and work out a deal with Swayman over the course of the summer, and it seems likely that this may be the path that general manager Don Sweeney will choose to walk.

Swayman is coming off of a 1 year deal that carried an average annual value and salary cap hit of $3.475 million per season but will be due a substantial raise on his next deal with the Bruins. Swayman established himself as one of the NHL's top goaltenders during the regular season with a 2.53 goals against average and a .916 save percentage over 44 games, but really elevated during the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 2.15 goals against average and a .933 save percentage over 12 playoff games.