Bruins make their decision on Jeremy Swayman.

The Boston Bruins have chosen not to deploy one of their negotiating tools against goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

According to a report from Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, the Bruins will not be filing for arbitration in spite of the fact that they did have that option at their disposal when it comes to the restricted free agent goalie. The Bruins had until 5 pm eastern on Saturday to file for arbitration and Conroy reports that the Bruins have allowed that deadline to come and go.

The decision feels like the right one on the part of general manager Don Sweeney as going before the neutral arbitrator can strain the relationship between player and team. In fact the Bruins have had their own checkered history with salary arbitration with players like Dmitri Khristich in 1999 when the Bruins became the first team in NHL history to reject an arbitration award.

Swayman has become far too important to the Bruins to risk such a process, especially after establishing himself as the Bruins number one goaltender last season. Although Swayman split the goaltending duties with former Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark during the regular season, recording a 2.53 goals against average and a .916 save percentage over 44 games, that wouldn't be the case during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In spite of the Bruins faltering in the second round, Swayman was simply outstanding for the Bruins along the way. Swayman established himself as one of the best goaltenders in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, recording a 2.15 goals against average and a .933 save percentage over 12 playoff games.

The Bruins will now have the rest of the summer to work out a deal with Swayman and his representatives before the start of training camp.