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A championship run for Jeremy Swayman at Worlds is a welcome sight for Bruins
"I feel like a completely new human being and a completely new goalie."
The Bruins have a lot of work to do this offseason.
Don Sweeney needs to not only replenish an arid prospect pool at the 2025 NHL Draft, but also address the glaring deficiencies littered across Boston’s depth chart.
An impotent offense and misfiring power play needs another scoring forward or two — via free agency or trade — to take the offensive burden off of David Pastrnak’s shoulders. More capital must be allocated to bolster the right side of Boston’s porous D corps.
But, no determinant holds more weight over the Bruins punching their ticket back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026 than Jeremy Swayman finding his game once again.
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As miserable as Boston’s roster was this past winter, the case could be made that a flawed Bruins team would have been playing meaningful hockey in March and April had Swayman been just a league-average netminder in 2024-25.
Of the 73 NHL goalies with at least 10 games played during the 2024-25 season, Swayman ranked 62nd with a goals saved above expected rate of -9.1 (per MoneyPuck). His .892 save percentage stood in stark contrast to his previous play in Boston (.919 save percentage through first four NHL seasons).
In a year where the Bruins anointed him as their franchise netminder, Swayman wasn’t remotely close to good enough.
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“I take accountability. I wanted to play better,” Swayman said in his final media address at Warrior Ice Arena last month. “I know that I can play better, and that’s something that I can’t wait to work on. And this team is going to be a lot different next year with what we learned from this year, and we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
A new training camp in September will represent the clean slate that both Swayman and a weary Bruins roster (and fanbase) are looking forward to.
But, Swayman’s offseason — and his efforts to shift the narrative following a disheartening 2024-25 campaign — got off to a good start over the last month.
As the Bruins await a bounce-back season from their goalie in 2025-26, Swayman showcased some of his promise as Team USA’s top netminder during the IIHF World Championships in Denmark and Sweden — helping the Americans win their first Worlds title in 92 years on Sunday.
Swayman didn’t budge for the U.S. in Sunday’s gold-medal game against Switzerland. The 26-year-old goalie stopped all 25 shots that came his way in a 1-0 victory. Swayman capped off his tournament with a sterling 7-0 record to go along with a .921 save percentage.
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Beyond the sought-after hardware, the last few weeks have stood as a welcome development for Swayman.
Not only should his play at Worlds solidify Swayman as Team USA’s No. 3 goalie for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, it also stands as some much-needed reassurance following a year where good news was in short supply.
“I couldn’t be happier to be at this tournament, especially based on the year I had,” Swayman said in Sweden, courtesy of The Hockey News. “I feel like a completely new human being and a completely new goalie. The guys in this room have been so incredible for just supporting me, and it’s just been a contagious locker room of joy. I just feel like a completely new human being.”
A seven-game run at Worlds does not hold the same stakes as the Stanley Cup Playoffs — nor does it guarantee that such a showing will carry over into the fall.
But as he attempts to leave the 2024-25 season in the rearview mirror, Swayman finally has something positive to build off going into the summer.
Swayman was far from the only Bruins player who impressed during Worlds.
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Defensemen Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei also secured gold medals while representing Team USA.
Peeke appeared in all 10 games for the U.S. during the tournament, finishing with one goal and three points while playing heavy minutes for the Americans. Lohrei played in five games, scoring a goal and sporting a plus-4 rating.
Another player entering the 2025-26 season with plenty at stake is center Elias Lindholm, who underwhelmed in Year 1 of the seven-year, $54.25 million deal that he inked with Boston last July.
But, after an encouraging end to the regular season while skating alongside David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, Lindholm kept that momentum for Team Sweden over the last few weeks. The 30-year-old posted 14 points and a tournament-leading eight goals over 10 games — helping Sweden win bronze over Denmark by adding a pair of helpers in a 6-2 win on Sunday.
Pastrnak was as advertised for the defending champion Czech team with a tournament-best 15 points, while Jakub Lauko added a shorthanded goal and an assist for the Czech roster across seven games.
One of the Bruins’ top prospects in Dans Locmelis capped off what has been a breakout spring with a strong showing for Latvia during Worlds. Locmelis, who turned pro in April and promptly posted 12 points in six regular-season games with Providence, scored four goals and six points in seven games for his native country.
But, no Bruins player had more to gain from Worlds than Swayman.
If he can carry that momentum into NHL action in a few months, it bodes well for a Bruins team that had few positives to draw from over the past year.
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