The Utah Hockey Club need to trade for Jeremy Swayman.
Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins have been trying to work out a contract extension all offseason after committing to Swayman as their starting goalie when they traded Linus Ullmark away to the Ottawa Senators.
Since then, these contract negotiations have been shrouded in uncertainty, with no clear resolution. Last week, the uncertainty boiled over when the president of Bruins Hockey operations, Cam Neely, took a public shot at Swayman by saying Swayman has "64 million reasons" why he should be playing right now.
Naturally, a remark like this got the trade rumour mill buzzing, and nothing has been said on the Bruins' side to quiet the noise. So, this trade speculation is getting louder and louder, and the Utah Hockey Club is one of the teams being mentioned the most as a potential trade partner for the Bruins.
Why the Utah Hockey Club needs to trade for Jeremy Swayman
Jeremy Swayman has solidified himself as a top-five goalie in the NHL. Over the last two years, he has the fifth-best save percentage, seventh-best goals against average, and fifth-best goals saved above expected per 60 minutes among goalies who have made ten starts over these two years (via NaturalStatTrick.
Now, it is no secret that Utah general manager Bill Armstrong has been searching for the franchise's goalie of the future. On an episode of the @CleanHitsHockey podcast released on Friday, they noted that Armstrong was interested in trading for Spencer Knight when the Arizona Coyotes were trying to move Jakob Chychrun. Then they were reportedly in on Yaraslov Askarov this past offseason, who ended up being dealt from the Nashville Predators to the San Jose Sharks.
But now, with the chaos in Boston, GM Armstrong has another goalie to consider. Swayman is 26 years old; he fits right in with this team's core. With one year left on his deal, the trade will allow Armstrong to potentially lock up Swayman for as long as he desires rather than bringing in a guy already locked into a term.
Over the offseason, Armstrong did a phenomenal job retooling the blueline, bringing Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino, and Ian Cole to give them a playoff-calibre blueline. Utah already has a ton of talent up front, and now, with Dylan Guenther getting a whole year and Josh Doan and Kailer Yamamoto's emergence, this team has a lot of depth and could be a top-10 offensive team in the NHL this season.
The only piece missing from this puzzle is an elite goaltender, and if GM Bill Armstrong were able to trade for Jeremy Swayman, the conversation around this team would shift from playoff contender to Stanley Cup contender.