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Jeremy Swayman, Bruins try to pinpoint what went wrong in lost season
"That's something that guys will come back with, a vengeance and have a chip on our shoulders."
Jeremy Swayman, Elias Lindholm, and David Pastrnak are among the large contingent of Bruins players currently taking part in the IIHF World Championships in Sweden and Denmark.
And while their primary focus in the present revolves around helping their respective countries take home a title, all of Boston’s lineup regulars stressed to NHL.com that they wished they were still playing hockey at TD Garden in mid-May.
“We know we have better (to give),” Swayman told NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers at Worlds. “We know what we have to do to have success in Boston. Our fans deserve much more and we deserve much more. That’s what we’re going to do.”
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Swayman and the Bruins had a disastrous 2024-25 season, with Boston missing the postseason for the first time since 2016 and finishing with the fifth-worst record in the NHL at 33-39-10.
“I can’t really pinpoint it,” Swayman said of what played into Boston’s struggles this past season. “You see the history of the league and how teams go through the ups and downs, and that’s the first time Boston has had that. It’s something we learn from, and we’re fortunate to learn from it. But moving forward, that’s not our standard.
“Our standard is much higher than what we had this year. That’s something that guys will come back with, a vengeance and have a chip on our shoulders. That’s something we’re excited about.”
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Swayman’s play left a lot to be desired in 2024-25. Fresh off of inking an eight-year, $66 million contract following a tumultuous offseason, he closed out the 2024-25 campaign with an .892 save percentage.
Even though Boston’s defense regressed in front of him, Swayman also ranked 63rd out of 73 qualified goalies (10 games played) with a -9.1 goals saved above expected (per MoneyPuck).
Beyond Swayman’s struggles, Boston had to deal with several critical injuries to lineup regulars in Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy, while the team eventually fired head coach Jim Montgomery just six weeks into the new season.
Add in several forwards struggling to replicate the breakthrough seasons they submitted in 2023-24, and a Bruins season that started out with so much hope quickly devolved into disaster.
“I think there were a lot of things that went wrong for us this year,” Elias Lindholm said. “The coaching change and stuff like that, then losing [Lindholm] was tough for us, and McAvoy was in and out a little bit, and once you lose a D pair like that it’s going to be tough, stuff going on with ‘Sway’s contract and ‘Marchy’s contract and stuff like that. It was a lot of noise and a lot of attention.
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“Not the season anyone wanted, but hopefully next year everyone’s healthy and ready to go, have a good camp, and be ready to be a playoff team again.”
Boston has plenty of work to do if it wants to reassert itself as a playoff team in 2025-26.
But with nearly $30 million in available cap space and Boston restocking its draft cupboards following a trade-deadline fire sale, the Bruins have plenty of options available this offseason to try to retool their roster around franchise fixtures like Pastrnak moving forward.
“Tough season,” Pastrnak said. “We lost a couple players. We got some good talent. We have some draft picks. We are going to be much better. I fully trust in the management, and I’m pretty sure and 100 percent positive we’re going to be a much better team next year.”
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