Rookie camps open across the NHL this week, and late next week, veterans will report as well. Most teams have settled all family business, with everyone signed and, barring an unexpectedly impressive performance from a young player, their rosters more or less locked.

The Boston Bruins are not one of those teams. That's because their putative starting goaltender, the one for whom they traded away a recent Vezina winner to clear the No. 1 position, is still without a contract. The rumour is that Jeremy Swayman wants "elite goaltender" money — something in the neighbourhood of $9-10 million, depending upon which Insiders you believe — and based on the numbers he's put up in his career, it's hard to argue he's not an elite goaltender.

Since he came into the NHL in the abbreviated 2020-21 season,