The Boston Bruins are coming off a dismal season last year, and if they want to turn things around in 2025-26, it starts, and finishes with goaltender Jeremy Swayman leading the way.
Swayman put himself behind the 8-ball last season thanks to his contract dispute with management. The two sides couldn’t agree on a new extension during the offseason, and ended up coming to terms during the first week of the year. Unfortunately for the Bruins, and for Swayman on an individual level, it was extremely costly. Without a full training camp behind him, it felt like Swayman was playing catchup the entire season, and now he’ll look to have himself a solid training camp, get some preseason rubber, and start strong right from opening night this year.
The Bruins went 33-39-10 in 2024-25, finishing last in the Atlantic Division. Swayman made 58 appearances, posting a 22-29-7 record, along with a 3.11 goals against average, and .892 save percentage. A huge drop in production from the 26-year-old goaltender, who was supposed to be the anchor of the Bruins’ roster, thanks to a trade that saw Linus Ullmark head to the Ottawa Senators, and the team giving him full reigns to the starter’s crease.
Boston is in a very tough spot right now when it comes to its roster. With Brad Marchand being traded to the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, and signing a team-friendly contract extension to finish off his career in the sunshine state, Bruins GM Don Sweeney is in the middle of a transition period. David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are the pillars up front and on defense, but at the end of the day, if Swayman isn’t able to carry the load in net, and be the last line of defense the Bruins need, they are in big trouble once again this season.
Elias Lindholm was brought in ahead of last season, signing a massive seven-year, $54.5 million contract, however, wasn’t able to live up to the contract, at least in the first season. Lindholm scored just 17 goals and 47 points in 82 games, and wasn’t able to solidify himself as the true number-one centre Pastrnak so desperately needs. Boston is hopeful Lindholm can bounce back, same can be said for Pavel Zacha taking another step forward in his development. Morgan Geekie was the Bruins’ feel good story last season scoring 33 goals, and the team is hopeful he’ll continue to progress and continue to find the back of the next this season. While Swayman wasn’t his normal self in 2024-25, one of the team’s biggest issues was finding the back of the net, scoring just 222 goals on the season, which was last in the Eastern Conference. While they won’t be a run-and-gun team, they need more production up front or else it doesn’t matter how good Swayman plays, it won’t be enough.
With this season being an Olympic year, Swayman has some extra motivation. Team USA’s crease is crowded with Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger rounding out their goaltending trio, but that’s not to say Swayman can’t squeeze his way into a start or two during the tournament. Having a full training camp and getting off on the right foot should do wonders for his game.
“It’s an extremely important time of the year,” Swayman said at the team’s practice facility on Sep.4 via NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. “If I didn’t have that experience, I probably wouldn’t understand the importance of it. So yeah, this definitely allowed me to prepare a little bit differently come training camp time — and looking forward to it.”
After a down year last season, Swayman decided to join Team USA’s World Championship team, and frankly, went off. He posted a 7-0 record, along with a 1.69 GAA and .921 save percentage. Swayman shut out the Swiss in the gold medal game, and it’s this experience in high-pressure moments that he’s looking to build off of heading into the new campaign.
“It’s an honoUr playing for the USA every time I get the opportunity to, but to finally do it, to win a gold medal, it’s unbelievable,” Swayman said. “That tournament for me personally was a great cap to a year that I wanted better from. To just let it all go and just play my game again, I found a lot. Really excited to get that and just wanted to ride that high throughout the summer and into the season.”
The Bruins are in a tough spot this season as they continue through the post-Marchand era. They’ll be starting the season without a captain, they have a ton of question marks up front, and they are going to be relying heavily on Swayman to lead the way. If he’s not able to hold down the fort, the Bruins are going to be in big trouble, and likely once again, hovering around the bottom of the Atlantic.