The Boston Bruins saw two of their key players named among The Athletic’s 10 biggest disappointments of the NHL season so far.
NHL expert Harman Dayal listed both forward Elias Lindholm and goaltender Jeremy Swayman in his list, as their performances have fallen short of expectations in his eyes.
Lindholm, who signed a seven-year, $54.25 million contract in the offseason, has struggled to produce offensively. The Bruins expected him to be a true first-line center alongside David Pastrnak, but the results have been underwhelming to the extent he's now used as a third-line center.
"All signs pointed to Lindholm being a shutdown middle-six center at this stage in his career. Boston, however, rolled the dice on him being a true No. 1 center," Dayal wrote. "That gamble has been a disaster."
Swayman, meanwhile, has faced difficulties adjusting to being the team’s undisputed No. 1 goalie with Linus Ullmark traded to the Senators.
The Bruins also signed the netminder to another staggering deal, signing him to an eight-year, $66 million contract in October. Since then, he has posted a career-low .897 save percentage allowing 3.00 goals-against on average through 49 games.
"That deal made him the league’s fifth highest-paid goaltender this season," Dayal wrote. "Swayman’s save percentage has consistently been in the .914 to .920 range in his NHL career, but he’s slipped to .897 in 2024-25.
"Goalies are notoriously volatile, and there are enough contextual factors to hope Swayman will bounce back with a clean slate next season. However, it won’t be easy."
The Bruins are coming off a controversial 3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Monday that had forward David Pastrnak calling out the referees and their decisions in the extra period.
The loss dropped Boston to sixth place in the Eastern Conference's wild-card race with the Bruins carrying a 30-30-9 record and 69 points into Thursday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
