An improved Jeremy Swayman is key for the Bruins

The Boston Bruins struggled mightily throughout the 2024-2025 season, and aside from a general decline in the quality of their roster, struggles from goaltender Jeremy Swayman were a major reason the Bruins slumped to a 33-39-10 record and last-place finish in the Atlantic Division.

In his first year as the full-time starter after Linus Ullmark’s departure to Ottawa, Swayman posted a .892 save percentage across 58 games, surrendering a goals against average of 3.12 with Boston going 22-29-7 in those starts. After missing training camp while his contract extension was negotiated, Swayman never seemed to find much of a rhythm.

So far this season, it seems like the Alaskan netminder has found his form again. The Bruins are 2-1-0 in his starts, and his save percentage of .916 is back in line with his career norms.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Swayman’s form and whether Boston can be a surprisingly strong team if he can keep it up.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the Boston Bruins. The metrics didn’t really favor them, but I’ve been kind of raising an eyebrow at them in their first five games this year. I think there’s a chance that they’re much better than they were last season. It was a 76-point year, it was ugly… True or False: The Bruins will be better than they were last year.

Carter Hutton: True. I honestly believe it, I think opportunity-wise for a lot of the younger players to get in there and play, and I think for Jeremy Swayman, coming in and just being part of this team from the start. Having those woes, I look back on his numbers in his career, you try to break it down from the goalie’s perspective, and he was protected. He had Linus Ullmark, he had that stopgap… and then all of the sudden you become the guy, and you’ve got to play three, four nights a week, it changes the whole dynamic of how you prepare. I look for him to be a little bit better.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…