There are plenty of elite goaltenders throughout the NHL, and the Boston Bruins have one of the league’s best.
On Sunday, the NHL Network released its list of the top 10 goaltenders right now. The Bruins were represented, as Jeremy Swayman landed back inside the top five.
Swayman was ranked No. 4 entering the 2024-25 season, but did not land on last year’s list.
For the first time in his six-year NHL career, Swayman hit the 30-win mark. He closed the season with 31 wins, posting a 31-18-4 record with a 2.71 GAA and .908 SV%. He was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, finishing third with 46 points in the vote.
“Goaltending is a team game,” Swayman said to the NHL Network’s Tony Luftman, Cory Schneider, and EJ Hradek during the selection show. “As the year went on, we kept grooving with each other, understanding, you know, when high-danger shots are going to happen, and the boys in front of me did a good job of making my life easy.”
His numbers go beyond the ones on the surface, as Swayman finished the regular season with 28.8 goals saved above expected (GSAx). That ranked second in the league, according to MoneyPuck, only behind Washington’s Logan Thompson.
“I love the stat (GSAx). I definitely think it’s helping us goalies in the union,” Swayman said. “But again, it’s our job to step up in big moments, and guys do what they can in front of us to allow us to see that first shot and obviously help us with rebounds. At the end of the day, we’re the last line of defense. So it’s our job to make sure we’re isolating the one-on-one threats, and it’s one of the best parts of the game.”
After a rocky 2024-25 season, one that knocked him outside the top 10, Swayman started for Team USA at the IIHF World Championship. Swayman posted a shutout during the gold medal game, helping the United States win their first World Championship gold since 1933.
“[The World Championship] was a turning point for me,” Swayman said. “It just goes to show what goaltending does when you stay in the moment, and good things happen. It was an extremely tough year between the ears for me, and obviously just feeling like I let a lot of people down, and especially my teammates and the city.”
Swayman said he “parlayed” that confidence into the 2025-26 season, which ended in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are high expectations in the Bruins’ locker room, and even with odds stacked against them, that will not change.
“It’s such a high expectation in our locker room, and we have a culture that we’re proud of, and again, it’s one of those things that we have to continue to do any given night,” Swayman said. “You’re always as good as your last game, and Boston will let you know that, which is a good, good place to be because of that.”
“I think, you know, the pieces that we’re adding, the pieces that came in these last couple years with the young guys, we really do have something special building. Again, expectations are high, and it’s our job to continue to raise the bar.”
Swayman was not the only Bruins draft pick to land on the list, as Dan Vladar landed at No. 8. Swayman’s Team USA teammates Connor Hellebuyck (No. 2) and Jake Oettinger (No. 7) also, unsurprisingly, made the list. His fight partner, Andrei Vasilevskiy, topped the list.
