Cam Neely lays out what the Bruins offered Jeremy Swayman

BOSTON – Jeremy Swayman’s contract impasse has reached the stage of negotiations between Good Cop and Bad Cop.

Throughout the offseason and preseason, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has been the public point of contact for all team comments on the status of the unrestricted free agent goaltender. sign.

Aside from what he called inaccurate reporting about communication between the two sides, Sweeney stressed that he respected Swayman and his negotiations. It looked like things were going to mostly stay that way during Monday’s media day, until team president Cam Neely jumped into the conversation.

Sweeney was asked if he was surprised by what Sweeney was asking. He started to say no, but Neely intervened.

“No, I would never blame a player for asking what they think is value,” Sweeney said.

Neely leaned toward his microphone.

“I was surprised,” Neely said.

After Sweeney finished his answer, Neely was asked to elaborate.

“I think overall Don has done a really good job on the initial offers to players,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of low ball, high ball, find it somewhere in the middle. …Get the right pay group, put, put the right offer on the table. Don’s past has shown that he can close deals. It’s just a question that was a little trickier.

Neely didn’t doubt Swayman’s desire to be a Bruin.

“I firmly believe Jeremy wants to play here. I asked him flatly. “Do you want to play here?” “And he does,” Neely said. “I believe they will reach an agreement. It is a shame that this is not done today.

Neely wouldn’t divulge what Swayman was asking, but did reveal the value of Boston’s 8-year offer.

“I don’t want to get into the details of his request, but I know I would have 64 million reasons why I would play right now,” Neely said.

Neely said he thinks Swayman is trying to reset the goalie market.

“What his application is and what we think his competition group is are two different things,” he said.