Boston Bruins
“It was worth the adversity.”
Jeremy Swayman was named a Vezina Trophy finalist on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
April 30, 2026 | 5:05 PM
3 minutes to read
The 2024-25 season was one to forget for Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins.
Not only did the Bruins flounder to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 33-39-10 record, but Swayman’s own game crumbled in his first full campaign as Boston’s No. 1 netminder.
Fresh off a contentious offseason where Swayman and his camp engaged in hardball with the Bruins over a long-term deal, Swayman couldn’t find traction between the pipes after finally putting pen to paper on an eight-year, $66 million contract.
After sporting a .933 save percentage during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Swayman’s numbers dragged across the board last year — posting an .892 save percentage.
It was a disheartening step back for the now-27-year-old goalie.
But as he fielded questions from reporters on Thursday — a day after news broke that Swayman was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie — Swayman credited last year’s struggles as a key conduit in this season’s impressive turnaround.
“I don’t think I’d be here without it, truthfully,” Swayman said of trudging through last season’s missteps. “It was a whirlwind of a year and a half, on and off the ice. And I think it’s really structured out to be an incredible story, and the growth that has come from it — internally and obviously with the team, too — it’s pretty spectacular.
“I’m so blessed and truthfully so grateful for the journey that I’ve been on and the mindset that I have, and the outlook that I have on life and hockey — it’s completely shifted. So it was worth the adversity.”
Jeremy Swayman on being a Vezina finalist after last year’s struggles:
“I don’t think I’d be here without it. It was a whirlwind of a year and a half — on and off the ice.” pic.twitter.com/uLwIjEsSQb
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 30, 2026
Swayman’s bounce-back performance in net has been the deciding factor in Boston’s resurgence in 2025-26.
He closed out the 2025-26 regular season with a career-best 31 wins — sporting a 31-18-4 record with a .908 save percentage, 2.71 goals-against average, and two shutouts over 55 games.
Without Swayman, the Bruins’ strong results (45-27-10, 100 points) during the regular season would likely give way to another rebuilding campaign.
According to MoneyPuck, Swayman ranked second among all qualified NHL goalies during the regular season in goals saved above expected with a rate of 28.8.
That goals saved above expected metric — which accounts for shot quality, quantity, and the amount of Grade-A scoring chances that a goalie is negating — paints the picture of a netminder in Swayman who is routinely bailing out a leaky defensive structure in front of him.
“He should be very proud of the way he handled things, especially after a year like that,” Marco Sturm said of Swayman. “We’re here to support him, and we know how important he is for us as a team. And I also know why we are in this position, why we’re still playing [in the playoffs], and he’s a big part of it.”
Sturm, who was named as Bruins head coach in June 2025 after last season’s disastrous results, didn’t want to harp on the past when talking to Swayman back in the fall.
“Our conversation was very clear,” Sturm said. “I didn’t want to hear it. I don’t want to talk about what happened in the past. I didn’t really give a [expletive], right? That was pretty much the message.
“I said, we’re going to move forward. We talked about his importance, and also his role on this team, and that’s about it. He doesn’t have to worry about anything else — besides stopping the puck.”
The Bruins have had to rely on Swayman heavily so far during this first-round playoff series against Buffalo. Through five games against the Sabres, Swayman is sporting a .910 save percentage — with the Alaska native turning aside 25 of 26 shots in Boston’s overtime victory in Game 5 on Tuesday night.
As the Bruins return to TD Garden to try and knot the series up at 3-3 apiece during Friday’s Game 6 showdown, Swayman is relishing the opportunity to help keep his club’s season alive for at least another few days.
“It’s an incredible honor, because the season is such a challenge, and you really have to live it, day by day,” Swayman said. “And that’s exactly how I’m taking it. Now we’re in playoffs. We’re doing a job. So it’s an incredible accolade, but at the same time, we have a job to do tomorrow night, and that’s all we’re focused on.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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