Jeremy Swayman will not be going to arbitration again

After going to arbitration last summer, Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman said he never wanted to go through that process again. Now he won’t have to.

Neither Swayman nor the Bruins elected to file for arbitration this weekend, taking it off the table as a potential outcome as they continue to work towards a contract extension.

Swayman had until 5 p.m. Friday to file to take the team to arbitration, as he did last year. Once he elected not to, the Bruins had until 5 p.m. Saturday to file to take Swayman to arbitration. They also passed, as first reported by Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald .

Had either elected arbitration, a hearing would have been scheduled for sometime between July 20 and Aug. 4, which would have put a hard deadline in place to either agree on a new contract or have a neutral arbitrator rule on one for them.

Going to arbitration again could have badly damaged the relationship between Swayman and the Boston front office, possibly for good.

With both sides deciding against arbitration, they can now continue to negotiate a new contract like normal, without the threat of another contentious hearing looming just weeks away.

Swayman, who remains a restricted free agent, was awarded a one-year, $3.475 million contract after arbitration last August, but is in line for a sizable raise after putting together an All-Star season and taking over as the clear No. 1 with a terrific playoff run. The Bruins already traded away tandem-mate Linus Ullmark, sending a clear signal that they are ready to turn the net over to Swayman.

General manager Don Sweeney has been steadfast in saying that extending Swayman remains one of his top priorities this offseason. He has left himself $8.6 million in cap space after a busy start to free agency that saw him sign center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov, and could easily free up another $800,000 or so by demoting someone to Providence if needed.

Obviously, it remains to be seen what Swayman’s new salary will ultimately come in at. Juuse Saros just signed an eight-year extension with the Nashville Predators that has an average annual value of $7.74 million. Saros has done more to prove himself as a workhorse, logging 60-plus starts in three straight seasons (Swayman’s career high is 43), but Swayman is also four years younger, so his contract will be covering more of his prime years.

“Sway is a big part of this whole dynamic of what we're trying to put together. It’s a priority for us,” Sweeney said on Monday. “We're going to continue to find a negotiated landing spot, and the timing is what it is, however long that takes. … We're in a great spot to find, as I said, the best negotiated deal we can find for both sides.”

In a perfect world, that deal would already be done, or at least wouldn’t drag on much longer, but there is no real deadline without arbitration looming. The sooner the better, though. Things could start to get uncomfortable if Swayman still doesn’t have a deal as training camp approaches in September, but that’s still two months away.

The only real downside to the Bruins not electing arbitration is that Swayman now remains eligible to sign an offer sheet from another team. Offer sheets are rarely used in the NHL, though, and it seems unlikely anyone will use one here.

If a team did offer-sheet Swayman and he signed it, the Bruins would then have seven days to either match the offer and pay Swayman what the other team offered, or accept the other team’s offer sheet and receive draft pick compensation in exchange for Swayman.

In order for the Bruins to even consider not matching, a team would likely have to go the sixth tier of offer sheets and offer Swayman at least $9.1 million per year. If the Bruins didn’t match, they would get two first-round picks, a second-round pick and a third-round pick from the other team.

According to CapFriendly , only seven teams even meet all the criteria to make such an offer: the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Swayman, meanwhile, was spotted at Bruins development camp at Warrior Ice Arena this week, watching part of a practice from the bench and chatting with prospects. New Bruin Joonas Korpisalo said Swayman was one of the first to text him after he was acquired in the Ullmark trade, and Swayman also featured in the Bruins' schedule release video alongside Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy.