BRIGHTON, Mass. — July 30, 2023, was an unforgettable day for Jeremy Swayman. He was in the ballroom of a Toronto hotel. During his uncomfortable arbitration hearing with the Boston Bruins, he heard critiques that cut him to the bone.
Ten months later, during the Bruins’ second-round showdown against the Florida Panthers, those critiques were still echoing in his head. One of the appraisals particularly bothered Swayman: how the Bruins believed his .901 save percentage over eight career playoff appearances made him untrustworthy in the playoffs.
Swayman was given a one-year, $3.475 million award. The Bruins chose a one-year term, partly as a nod to Swayman to put him back into the marketplace. In retrospect, they should have gone for two.
Swayman’s hard feelings from arbitration toward his employer are, in all likelihood, a primary factor in his determination to hold firm to his ask. How he responds to the spike in temperature will determine the length of the disagreement.
Trent Frederic could have been in a similar situation.
Two days after Swayman squared off against the Bruins, Frederic was scheduled for his own hearing with the Bruins. According to Sportsnet, Frederic wanted a one-year, $2.9 million deal. The Bruins were countering with a two-year contract at $1.4 million annually.
On Aug. 1, just before the hearing, the sides settled on a two-year deal with a $2.3 million average annual value. By Frederic’s recollection, the agreement was reached 10 minutes before the hearing was scheduled to begin.
But Frederic had one thing in common with Swayman. Before every arbitration hearing, the sides exchange briefs that outline their respective cases. Frederic and agent Allain Roy read what the Bruins would argue during the hearing.
Frederic knew, in other words, the case his employer was making about why he did not deserve the deal he wanted. The forward did not disclose to The Athletic any of the arguments the Bruins were making on behalf of their preferred number.
“I still got to read everything they were going to say,” Frederic said of reviewing the arbitration briefs. “Some people handle it different. They have different things they’re going to say about each person. I don’t want to get too much into that.”
Frederic and Swayman were both born in 1998. Frederic belonged to a cluster of St. Louis-area hotshots that included Clayton Keller, Matthew Tkachuk, Logan Brown, Luke Kunin and Joseph Woll. All six played for the U.S. National Team Development Program. Five were first-round picks. Frederic went No. 29 in 2016.
Swayman, meanwhile, was more under the radar.
The native of Anchorage, Alaska, did not make the Kenai River Brown Bears, his local North American Hockey League team. He had to leave home for Colorado as a 16-year-old. He was not recruited by the University of Alaska Anchorage, his hometown school, until it was too late. The Bruins drafted him in the fourth round.
All of this shaped Swayman into more of a chip-on-the-shoulder person than Frederic.
Frederic is a low-maintenance player. Coach Jim Montgomery has used the left-shot forward at left wing, center and right wing, partly because he is not adamant about playing a specific position. Frederic is a natural center.
In that way, Frederic may be better designed to classify arbitration arguments as business instead of personal.
“It’s not necessarily that they mean it,” Frederic said. “It’s like in court, right? There’s people that defend murderers. They might not really mean it. It’s just part of the job.”
Frederic is entering the last season of his contract. He will be unrestricted at year’s end. Roy is speaking with general manager Don Sweeney about a Black-and-Gold extension.
“I don’t know with Sway what they said or whatever he said,” Frederic said. “But to me, it wasn’t that bad. It’s business.”
Swayman, meanwhile, is holding his ground, even if public opinion is on the Bruins’ side of a $64 million offer. The regular season is fast approaching.
(Photo of Trent Frederic and Jeremy Swayman: Eric Hartline / USA Today)
