Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman needs to be much, much better next season

Apr 10, 2025, 16:32 EDT

Credit: Oct 14, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; A shot by Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) gets past Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) for a goal during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

When we entered the 2024-25 season, Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman had just signed an eight-year deal with an $8.25 million contract.

Swayman was coming off another excellent season in goal during the 2023-24 campaign, as he had a 25-10-8 record, a .916% save percentage, 3 shutouts and 22.79 goals saved above expected through 44 games.

This season, things haven’t gone right for the Bruins netminder, who holds a 22-28-6 record and a 3.06 goals-against average and .895 save percentage through 56 games.

Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss why Swayman needs to be much, much better for the 2025-26 season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Speaking of big extensions, Jeremy Swayman, obviously, it was a big story coming into the year, he missed a lot of training camp. How much of this bad season do you think is maybe just bad luck, and how much of it is, ‘Hey, he didn’t start on time, losing training camp can really set a guy back?’ Like, what did you make of Swayman’s step back this season?

Carter Hutton: I think it’s a bit of everything, too. I look at Linus Ullmark being moved out and Swayman now having the keys to the castle. I’ve been in that situation before where someone gets hurt or you become the guy, everything changes because now all of a sudden, instead of playing two games a week, you’re playing three or four and the wear and tear that goes on in the season. I think he got behind the eight ball truthfully for me with the whole training camp and holdout situation. So, again, I think the Bruins were due for a little self-destruct, and I still find it weird looking at the standings and seeing the Bruins at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but that being said, Swayman needs to be better, right?

Career Hutton: He had a .895 save percentage, and this is a guy who over his career has been rock solid, right? We look at his record and what he’s done for this team, even his playoff success. He needs to be a backbone. When you’re paid that kind of money, as a goaltender, you need to be a difference maker continually every single night, and he wasn’t this year at all. So, there’s a lot of pressure because he still has seven years left on that big deal.