The Boston Bruins issued goaltender Jeremy Swayman a qualifying offer on Sunday before making a big splash in the free-agent market the day after.
The goaltender has until July 15 to accept the offer before heading into arbitration talks. Other teams can send him offers that are reviewed by the Bruins to match.
The 25-year-old went through arbitration last offseason and has said he does not want to go through it again.
Boston currently has about $8.6 million in cap space, which is just enough to lock down Swayman.
General manager Don Sweeney was firm with reporters Monday that the free-agent signings do not affect any contract negotiations with the goaltender.
“(Swayman) is a big part of this whole dynamic of what we’re trying to put together,” Sweeney said, per team-provided video. “It’s a priority for us, we’re going to continue to find a negotiated landing spot and the timing is what it is, however long that takes. It’s not impacted by what we did today, we’re in a great spot to find the best negotiated deal we can find for both sides.”
Boston traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, so if the Bruins sign Swayman, he would be the No. 1 goaltender. He appeared in 44 games and had a 25-10-8 record last season.
Despite still being in contract negotiations, Swayman took time to watch development camp on Tuesday at Warrior Ice Arena.
