Insider Trading: Critical week ahead in Swayman negotiations

TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston and Darren Dreger join host Gino Reda on Tuesday's edition of Insider Trading and have the latest on talks between the Bruins and their RFA netminder Jeremy Swayman, the best-case scenario arriving for the Canadiens on Patrik Laine’s injury status and the Blue Jackets being granted a salary-cap exemption to start the season.

Things are getting ugly between the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman after [Boston Bruins president] Cam Neely said he had 64 million reasons why he'd be playing if he were [Bruins netminder] Swayman. The RFA's agent, Lewis Gross, said he's really disappointed in Neely and needs a few days to decide what's next. Could this get worse before it gets better?

Johnston: Well, put it this way: As dramatically as it played out Monday, as publicly as it played out, there's still a week here for Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins to repair things, to get back to the bargaining table before either of them lose something tangible. And, I think that fact alone guarantees that after a little bit of a cooling off period, they're going to take another run at this. Consider this: If Jeremy Swayman isn't signed by opening night, every night of the season that passes by, he is forfeiting salary - something like $40,000 a day. If he's not in uniform for the Bruins. If the Bruins don't sign him by opening night, they will have a more difficult time fitting him under their cap structure when they eventually do. And so, because of those facts, and while clearly there's some emotion here, Jeremy Swayman still has some bad feelings about the way his summer arbitration hearing went in 2023. Probably doesn't like the way Cam Neely obviously tabled what is a true $64 million offer. There is a lot of money. There is a real offer there, and there is a week here for them to get back and to try to find something to get this player signed.

Dreger: I mean, who's kidding who? This is juicy stuff. As we sit on the cusp here of the start of the NHL regular season, and as much as there's been a buzz around this file, I can tell you the Boston Bruins remain hopeful, optimistic, and committed to getting something done to sign their bona fide No. 1 goaltender. And again, the regular season here is looming. The Boston Bruins can't tell you what the timeline to get something done is because there's an ongoing negotiation. They wanted to continue as amicably as possible, and they understand that social media - the rumour mill - is grinding out all sorts of different scenarios, including trade possibilities. But look, we need to remind everybody out there that he is a restricted free agent. The Boston Bruins own his rights, so none of that is happening anytime soon. They're still committed to getting an extension worked out.

A day of good and bad news for the Montreal Canadiens as they find out that [defenceman] David Reinbacher had surgery on his left knee and the fifth-overall pick from 2023 is now gone five-to-six months. We also find out that Patrik Laine is not going to need surgery. How did they go about making that decision?

Dreger: Well, best case scenario, frankly, for Patrik Laine and the Montreal Canadiens because we all saw the visuals on Saturday night after the collision with Cedric Pare of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It looked horrible. Everybody felt bad, and it looked like, you know, an operation was a certainty to repair the damage done to that left knee. They had to medically go through the process and that included all the doctors involved, the medical department for the Montreal Canadiens and, of course, Patrik Laine and his representatives. It was thought that he might need a couple extra days this week to finally decide which path he wanted to go. But, as soon as they determined that a surgical procedure was not required, then the decision was easy for Patrik Laine to make. So, it's a knee sprain. He'll continue to rehab and he should miss two months, maybe two and a half.

We've spoken a lot about the league having an $88-million salary cap this season, but teams also have a cap floor of 65 million - a number the Blue Jackets may need a little help with right now?

Johnston: Well, yeah. In the wake of the tragedy of the death of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, obviously this has been a sensitive and delicate discussion, but there's had to be a discussion with the NHL and the NHL Players' Association from a competitive standpoint in terms of what would happen with the Blue Jackets. And they have come to an agreement where basically Columbus does not have to reach the salary floor entering the season, as every team typically would be required to do just because of the timing and circumstances involved here. What it means for Columbus, as they do have to get there eventually - they're still looking for help at the forward position, looking at the waiver wire and trade options, but they do not have a deadline of middle of next week like a team typically would.