The NHL 15: Jeremy Swayman and the unpredictable nature of goalies

Is he the goalie that shined in a shared role with Linus Ullmark, or is he the goalie that struggled in his first year as a full-time starter? Or is he something in between both extremes?

Before each NHL season I look at 15 players that I think are the most intriguing players in the NHL. Not necessarily the best players (though, sometimes they are), but players that offer some sort of intrigue, a big storyline or figure to be a major X-factor for the season. This is The NHL 15. We continue today with Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who is coming off the worst season of his career after signing a major contract extension.

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The Boston Bruins were due for a big regression at some point, but the goaltending duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman mostly prevented it from happening for a couple of years. They were the backbone of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 teams that continued to play like contenders, while also masking a lot of flaws that existed elsewhere on the roster (and there were a lot of them that were hidden by the goalies).

Were either of them on their own a top-tier goalie? Maybe not. But the duo worked incredibly well together and gave them something almost no other NHL team had. There was no off night against them. No game against the backup that you might be able to light up for five or six goals. They could each stay fresh for the grind of an 82-game season.

But after the 2024-25 season the Bruins were stuck in a tough situation with their goalies.

Ullmark had one year remaining on a $5 million salary cap hit.

Swayman was a restricted free agent and in need of a huge raise.

Paying to keep both was going to be an expensive investment in the position, and it just didn’t seem like something they were going to be willing or able to do.

Their decision was to trade Ullmark to a divisional rival (the Ottawa Senators) and eventually re-sign Swayman to an eight-year, $66 million contract extension that carries an $8.25 million salary cap hit. That salary cap number is the sixth-largest among NHL goalies for this season.

For at least the 2024-25 season, the whole thing backfired spectacularly.

Ullmark solidified a major weakness for a division and conference rival and helped them take a playoff spot away from the Bruins.

Swayman’s contract saga dragged out way longer than anybody could have possibly expected or wanted, and when he finally re-joined the team he put together what was by far the worst season of his career. Between that and Ullmark playing In Ottawa, the Bruins went from third in the NHL in all-situations save percentage (.912) in 2023-24, all the way down to 27th (.885) during the 2024-25 season.

That helped take them from a playoff team to the 27th ranked team in the NHL standings.

It would be unfair to put all of that on Swayman’s down year because there were a lot of other factors and variables involved. General manager Don Sweeney has not built a particularly strong or deep roster, and they spent most of the 2024-25 season playing without their top-two defenseman in Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm.

The latter point shouldn’t be totally discounted, because there was an obvious impact to Swayman’s play when those two were out of the lineup.

If you break down Swayman’s performance just based on the defensive lineup he had in front of him:

• With both McAvoy and Lindholm in the lineup: .896 save percentage

• With only McAvoy in the lineup: .899 save percentage

• With neither McaVoy or Lindholm in the lineup: .883 save percentage

He obviously saw a significant drop in his save percentage without the top-two defenders, but none of those numbers are actually good enough or what the Bruins are paying for.

So what are they going to get this season?

Was the 2024-25 season just a bad outlier set in motion by some problematic variables (injuries, Swayman missing training camp)? Or is there something to be concerned about here for the Bruins?

Let’s talk about it.