Missing training camp impacted Swayman's game more than anticipated.
When the Boston Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, they knew they would lock up goaltender Jeremy Swayman as their No. 1 goaltender for the foreseeable future.
The latter happened, but it took a little bit longer to get a deal done, and Swayman opted to not report to training camp while all the X’s and O’s were figured out between his agent and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney.
NESN’s broadcast team of Judd Sirott and Andy Brickley shared their thoughts on how Swayman can learn from this season and return to form with Adam Pellerin on the latest episode of “The Hockey Hub” podcast.
“I think Jeremy Swayman is going to look back at the ’24-25 season and say, ‘This was a massive learning experience for me,'” Sirott said. “From start to finish, and the way that he is ending, and who knows how many more times we’re going to see him … but to go here in April with a .919 save percentage, the way he’s played, the stops he’s made, how calm he’s been in net is a very good sign for the Bruins to enter the offseason.
“It’s almost like if you want to transfer this to baseball, a lot of people don’t believe in momentum in baseball. Momentum in baseball is you next day’s starting pitcher. So, let’s see how he begins the season. But, if he’s able to end the season the way he’s played here in April, it will certainly be promising for him heading into the offseason.”
Brickley believes that missing camp may have had more of an effect on Swayman’s performance this season than many anticipated.
The former Bruins forward continued: “You’re back with your teammates, and it’s different,” Brickley said. “You’re not on top of your game. It’s the NHL. It’s NHL quality. You’re getting beat, and now you can’t get traction. You try to put the extra work in, but where it hurts you is in your head.
“And you can’t find it. You can’t find it no matter what you do. And it snowballs in the wrong direction. It starts to spiral. … And the play in front of him compounds the issue because the Bruins didn’t have what they usually have — great layers defensively, good decision-making without the puck, good strength down the middle. They had some injuries on the back. All that stuff was working against Swayman. So, you hope that the learning process was a successful one. And the only way we’ll find out is his performance come next September, October.”