What a whirlwind of a start to the 2024-25 season for the Boston Bruins. They had an extremely poor start and were playing like one of the worst teams in hockey. The front office fired their head coach in Jim Montgomery and replaced him with Joe Sacco. Since Sacco has taken over, the Bruins are 7-3-0 and playing much better hockey.
There are always things to improve on, as this team is not a finished product. From an offense standpoint, the Bruins could use more goals from depth players such as Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. Also, for the Bruins to make any sort of run and be a true contender they need goaltender Jeremy Swayman to step up more.
This Is the Sway
When general manager Don Sweeney made the decision to trade Linus Ullmark and give the keys to the crease to Swayman, it was the right call. As good as Ullmark was for the franchise, the Bruins turning to their young goalie always made sense for the foreseeable future. He was ready and proved he could be the guy. During the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff run, Swayman did not want the tandem and was adamant about wanting to keep playing. Fast forward to this season and the tandem is an afterthought.
Things have been bumpy right from the start for Swayman. His best friend got traded and the contract negotiations bled into training camp. Not only that, he missed all of camp and preseason play. Safe to say, that time spent away from the team due to the contract dispute bled into the season.
Swayman did not look as sharp as he usually does and was not his dominant self that you saw during the playoffs and the 2023-24 regular season. In his first eight starts, he allowed three or more goals in five of those starts. That’s not the Swayman we all know and love.
The pressure is truly on, especially when you sign a contract extension that makes you the fifth highest-paid goaltender in the NHL. For Swayman the results have not been the best and need to take a turn for the better. Among goalies who have played at least ten games, he has the 10th worst save parentage (.886), 9th worst goals-against average (3.27), and the worst goals saved above expected (minus-11.6). Swayman has let in a few soft goals and ones that he’d like to have back, which is evidenced by the big negative in goals saved above expected.
Swayman has unfortunately been part of a few dominant losses too. He was in net for the lopsided 8-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Halloween. The Dallas Stars flexed their muscles with a 7-2 victory and the Bruins got pummeled 8-1 against the Winnipeg Jets. You certainly can’t blame everything on the goalie, but this is a player the Bruins could always rely on for the big save. Swayman needs to improve and he has been putting in the work to do so.
Perfecting His Craft
Missing camp can affect a player. It does not allow them to build rhythm and get their body ready for the grind that is the 82-game season. It’s not just hockey, it’s in other sports as well. In the game of baseball, we saw Blake Snell miss spring training due to a contract dispute and it led to a tough start to the year. He ultimately bounced back and went on to be the best pitcher in the sport after the All-Star Break. Snell put in the work and Swayman has done the same in order to net better results.
Related: Bruins Leaning Into New Identity With Defensive Structure
Swayman missing training camp has led to a significant step back in his play. However, he is doing work with goalie coach Bob Essensa in order to get him more ready.
Goalie coach Bob is more than just a great coach, he allows goalies to reach their true potential. He’s managed to turn Joonas Korpisalo into an entirely different goalie from the season prior and he’s trying to break Swayman out of his slump. Essensa knew that Swayman needed an extra jumpstart and more work to get his body right for the season. Essensa set up a mini-training camp for Swayman, allowing him to get some extra work. It is something he’s looked forward to this season.
“It was good for me to get a few good practices in a row,” Swayman said following Boston’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. “Bob and I had a little mini training camp. That’s something that, again, I knew that I needed to do. When I finally got the chance to, I went to work. That’s on me. That’s on everyone in this locker room to work in practice, to use games as a platform of our labor. That’s really exciting when you’re starting to get results.”
The work was beginning to pay off. At the time of the quote, Swayman allowed no more than two goals per game (Nov. 26 and Nov. 29). He was getting dialed in and even with the inept offense, he was standing tall in the goal crease. Swayman was averaging 2.63 goals against prior to the beating he took against the Jets.
Swayman is a good goaltender. He has shown that he can be a reliable presence in the crease and be counted on for victories. It’s all about putting in the work. There is no need to panic and Swayman will turn it around and push through.
No Need to Panic
It’s not time to panic about Swayman. Yes, he is being paid like a top-five goaltender, but has not been one. Something similar has happened to New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin but to a lesser degree. He signed an eight-year extension on July 1, 2023 for the same annual average value as Swayman.
Sorokin saw the crease only once in the playoffs, as head coach Patrick Roy turned to Semyon Varlamov. At the end of the day, he is having a much better season this year as well. He has a 2.58 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and 6.1 goals saved above expected. He had just 1.4 goals saved above expected during the 2023-24 season. So the season right after signing the extension, he was not nearly at his best especially considering he finished with 38.7 goals saved above expected during the 2022-23 season. The point is, even a great goalie like Sorokin had a tough season, but prevailed. Swayman can do the exact same thing. He’s putting in the work and can be better.
Sway Will Be Okay
The results are the results and while they aren’t the best, there is no need to panic. The talent that Swayman has is phenomenal and he has shown in the past he can be a reliable goaltender. Expectations are raised due to the contract, but he is putting in the extra work in order to get his body ready to net better results. The Bruins are continuing their tough road trip, so the time for Swayman to dial it in starts now.
