A year after finishing at the bottom of their division for the first time in modern memory, the Boston Bruins need a lot of things to go right for them to have even the faintest hope of challenging for a Stanley Cup playoff berth.
If one thing in particular doesn’t improve for them – the performance of starting goalie Jeremy Swayman – the Bruins are destined to wind up in the Atlantic Division basement for the second straight year.
Just about everything that could’ve gone wrong for Swayman did go wrong last season. The 26-year-old missed Boston’s training camp due to a financial stalemate. Although he did get a new contract done in time to start the Bruins’ second game of the season, he never got into a groove and finished with what were by far his worst individual numbers of his five-year NHL career, including a 3.11 goals-against average and .892 save percentage in a career-high 58 appearances.
Granted, some of the blame for Swayman’s bloated numbers must be attributed to Boston’s porous defensive game when Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm were injured. But when Swayman asked for and received a pay raise to $8.25 million per season, he invited the criticism of him that had harangued him all season long.
Now, he must help the Bruins exceed expectations in 2025-26.
“We have an endless belief mindset, and that’s gotta be set from Day 1,” Swayman told reporters last Thursday. “We can’t go in the future, we can’t predict what’s gonna happen, but the thing is that we can control what we can control, right here, right now.”
With Bruins backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo being no serious threat to take playing opportunities away from him, Swayman didn’t have the competition pushing him to elevate his own performance.
Boston Bruins Netminder Jeremy Swayman Ready For Rebound Season
Last season was a tough year for the Boston Bruins, and perhaps nobody took that harder than Jeremy Swayman.
Now, he has some competition for another coveted goalie spot.
Not only does Swayman face intense pressure to backstop the Bruins into playoff contention, but he also must try to secure playing time on Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The Americans have plenty of options in net, including Winnipeg Jets superstar Connor Hellebuyck and Dallas Stars counterpart Jake Oettinger. The three of them were on the 4 Nations Face-Off squad, but only Hellebuyck and Oettinger…