NHL Notebook: Why it's important to remain pragmatic about Jeremy Swayman & future of Bruins' goaltending corps

Jeremy Swayman is a man of the people, apparently.

While most netminders are often steel-faced during warmups as they brace themselves for another daunting night between the pipes, Swayman is cut from a different cloth — with the happy-go-lucky rookie's smile etched on his face from the moment he steps onto the ice to the aftermath of the final seconds draining from the Garden scoreboard.

Given the University of Maine product's outgoing personality, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that the 22-year-old netminder gravitated to a group of fans who pressed a "Swayman For President 2024" sign up against the glass ahead of Friday's game against the Islanders — granting an on-ice selfie for their creative efforts.

"That’s just the best,” Swayman said. “I know I was a fan once when I was a little kid and I’d be so excited when a player acknowledged me. So, I just wanted to give back, and I know how much it means to other kids. And that was a pretty good sign. They put a lot of effort into that. Kudos to them. That was a pretty cool moment.”

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Swayman's 2024 odds are already looking promising. But if some Bruins fans had their way, Swayman would already be the frontrunner in a mid-terms 2022 campaign.

And, to be fair, the rookie has justified the hype and fueled such sentiment with his play in net this season. With his 25-save shutout performance against New York, Swayman has won four of his five outings with Boston — boasting an impressive .938 save percentage along the way.

After years spent withstanding salvos of shots up in Orono, Swayman is more than comfortable serving as the last line of defense against heavy shot volumes — but it's been his ability to stand tall against Grade-A looks, breakaways and odd-man rushes that has raised Swayman's stock across the league. In total, Swayman has posted an .893 save percentage on high-danger shots — tops among a pool of 74 goalies that have logged at least 200 minutes of ice time this season.

“Very composed," Bruce Cassidy said. "He does have some of that Tuukka (in him), right? That technically sound, composed guy that never looks out of control. It’s good to see. Good for him. He’s a good kid, he works hard. Both our young goaltenders have really stepped up when we needed them.”

Swayman's elevation from a highly-regarded collegiate goalie to premier prospect in the span of a year has served as one of the few pleasant surprises for Boston in a season where most developments have usually involved injuries, COVID stoppages and quarantines. Still, as easy as it might be to get tempted by the tales of Ken Dryden, Jordan Binnington and other rookies simply lighting the world on fire and leading their clubs to Stanley Cup titles — allow us to inject some reality back into the conversation here.

As we noted last week, as Tuukka Rask goes, so goes the Bruins in 2021 — while Jaroslav Halak (still on the COVID-19 Protocol list) will hopefully draw back in at some point before the regular season concludes. Of course, given Swayman's strong play, it's to be expected that the rookie will still earn some reps down the stretch — a justified move, given the product put forth on the ice.

"The plan would have been for him to go to Providence and split duties with (Dan) Vladar and compete with him and (Kyle) Keyser for playing time," Cassidy said of Swayman's initial projections in his first pro season.  "But this this is what happens sometimes, right?  One door closes on a Tuukka injury or Halak with COVID. And another one opens — an opportunity for someone else. And it was Vladar first and now Swayman. That's how some stories unfold and other ones are a little more deliberate and they take their time. So good for Jeremy. So far, so good ... I mean, this is five games where I don't believe he's allowed a bad goal. ... So great start. I mean,  who knows where it'll go."

A great start? Of course. Is the future bright? No doubt. But don't expect the latest season of Succession to transition from Waystar Royco to the Bruins' goalie corps this season.

But what if he look ahead to 2022? Well, then things do get a bit more interesting.



While the Bruins could very well orchestrate another run or two in the coming years with this veteran corps in place, this upcoming offseason does give Boston a window to reassess the state of its roster and — if Don Sweeney and others deem it necessary — wipe the slate clean in a couple of areas. Namely, the B's goaltending corps could be in a state of flux, given that both Rask and Halak are set to enter free agency.

Given Swayman's impressive debut and Vladar's encouraging play (his save percentage was unfortunately tanked by that 8-1 loss to the Caps last Sunday), don't be surprised if the narrative begins to get drummed up this summer (hell, it might already be starting) that Boston should fully embrace a Swayman/Vladar tandem and cut bait with Rask/Halak — saving Boston a pretty sizable chunk of change in the process.

It'd be a bold direction for Boston to take, and one that, in the grand scheme of things, carries an awful lot of risk for a roster that realistically isn't looking for a full rebuild in a year or two.

For as much as the tales of Dryden/Binnington are always pushed to the forefront when it comes to goalies arriving on the scene and leading their clubs to glory, there are also a fair share of lessons learned by other teams that were either burned or hampered by the expected developmental bumps in the road for young goalies anointed as franchise saviors.

You don't have to look very far to see such a similar scenario playing out right now in Philadelphia. Given how long the Flyers have longed for a star netminder, Carter Hart served as a breath of fresh air over his first two seasons in the pros — leading Philly to a promising playoff run up in the Toronto bubble last summer off of a .926 save percentage. The future was bright for Philly and their 22-year-old goalie, with Hart's continued rise as one of the NHL's best young goalies leading many (including yours truly) to proclaim the Flyers as one of the top teams in the East Division this season.

Fair to say, it hasn't worked out for either player or team in 2021 — with the Flyers tumbling out of the playoff race and Hart (.877 save percentage in 27 games) crashing back down to earth.

"I caution  — just because of what we saw with Carter Hart in Philadelphia," Cassidy warned of putting too much stock in young goalies. "Had a pretty good start. And then he had some hiccups. So you got to be careful with with these young guys, specifically at that position. ... We've had a couple of young guys in the American League that come up and had really good starts for us. Some are able to continue, some weren't. I remember Nik Svedberg was really good for us in Providence as a rookie, came over from Sweden and played well all year. Didn't necessarily translate at the NHL level, but started well and Sway started well in Providence and it did translate here so far, so good for him."

Boston also found itself in such a spot a decade ago — albeit they were bailed out by holding on to another veteran, No. 1 option as insurance (something that Brian Elliot, unfortunately, is not in Philly).

Despite that complete collapse at the hands of the Flyers during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, there was a lot to be optimistic about in net for Boston in the years ahead, with a 22-year-old Rask excelling throughout the season (22-12-5, 1.97 GAA, .931 save percentage) and supplanting the reigning Vezina Trophy winner in Tim Thomas (.915 save percentage in 43 games that season). But just a year later, with Boston rolling with the same tandem in net, Rask's game slipped a bit (2.67 GAA), opening the door for Thomas to regain his starting spot and ... well, you know the story.

So even if Swayman and Vladar very well could be Boston's goaltenders of the future, their strong starts and Rask's status as a pending UFA shouldn't prompt the B's to fully embrace a youth movement, not at this juncture. All things considered, Boston is in a position that most teams would envy when it comes to their netminding situation: encouraged by a number of very promising prospects in the system, but also buoyed by still having a legitimate No. 1 netminder between the pipes.

Moving into 2022 and beyond, Boston's safest bet will likely involve Rask returning on a shorter-term deal with a lower AAV (given Rask's repeated musings about not wanting to play anywhere else but Boston - it sure would seem like both contract stipulations would be agreeable at this point in his career) and roll with either Vladar/Swayman as the backup — with the other young goalie (likely Swayman) given the keys to Providence's No. 1 starting spot and handed ample time to further develop.

If Swayman excels and pushes Vladar? Even Rask? That's a great problem to have for the Bruins — especially for a franchise that has regularly cited internal competition as one of its key drivers of success.

And is Swayman/Vladar hit bumps in the road? Who better to regain the starting spot in net than your tried-and-true No. 1 in Rask?

It's that best-of-both-worlds scenario that paid off handsomely for Boston in 2011 and beyond — and history very well might repeat itself with this club if Rask and both Swayman/Vladar form an effective partnership in the years ahead.

So keep on making those "Swayman 2024" posters, Bruins fans. His time will certainly come. But there's no need for a primary when you've already got a pretty great situation in net these days.

Bruins add some new faces in practice

Throughout this season, Cassidy has stressed the importance of his defensemen getting shots through from the blue line — not only to help generate even-strength offense, but to also prevent Grade-A looks down the other end of the ice off of counter-rushes from blocked shots. And while a trade pickup like Mike Reilly has made a major difference already in terms of shot generation up high for this club, it still remains an area of emphasis for Boston's coaching staff — especially for youngsters like Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril.

But practicing such sequences outside of a game setting is easier said than done, given that Boston isn't willing to send its own players up high to pressure and clog up shooting lanes off slap shots from the blue line. So, rather than risk injury, Bruins skating and skills coach Kim Brandvold got creative — introducing a pair of dummies tied to ropes that could simulate a player pressuring a defenseman up high.

The optics of it might be a bit peculiar, but Cassidy embraced his coaching staff's method to the madness when it comes to the new drills — especially if the end result is more pucks getting past the first line of defense and generating Grade-A looks.

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"Listen, we're trying to simulate some pressure at the point for the D — bodies in the shooting lanes and trying to work around them and see through them and shoot through them if necessary and  still get your shot to the net," Cassidy said. "So short of using live people that, obviously, you risk injury, right? So you don't want to do that to a player. I know that these (dummies) have been made and I think they're in different teams or organizations in the league. I don't know which ones, but that's what I've been told.

"So we decided we'd try to use them to best replicate a player and then the string part of it — it was Kimmer's idea to try to get them moving. ... So we're just trying to replicate as much of the pressure coming out to the point that you'd see in a game as possible. So it's still a work in progress. I like their intuition, Kimmer with the rope. We'll see where it grows and how we can make them a little more mobile. But that was the idea behind it."

B's awaiting word on vaccines

While a number of NHL clubs such as the Rangers have already received COVID-19 vaccines earlier this month, the Bruins are in a bit of a holding pattern — with the club still waiting its turn before Massachusetts opens up eligibility to just about everyone 16+ starting on Monday, April 19. With Boston set to head out on a five-game road trip on Monday, it remains to be seen when exactly the Bruins will hammer down a time for a vaccine appointment — although Cassidy did note that he's already received one dose already.

"No idea," Cassidy said of a timetable for the team to get its shots. "I think that's been discussed. But outside my pay grade. I had my first shot, I think it was like 10 days ago. So I've already kind of moved into that queue for eligibility. So as I said, I think they're looking into it. We hit the road Monday, so I don't know if that we'll be able to do it on the road. But maybe when we get back, they'll be a plan in place."

As for any side effects for the B's bench boss?

"Zero," Cassidy said with a smirk. "You should see the needle — the needle was crushed."

Johnny Peirson passes away at 95

Some sad news to report — as former Bruins forward and broadcaster Johnny Peirson passed away on Friday at the age of 95.

Pierson, a native of Winnipeg, played his entire 11-year career with the Bruins (1946-54, 1955-58), scoring 153 goals and 173 assists for 326 points in 545 games while helping Boston get to the Stanley Cup Final three times (1952-53, 1956-57, and 1957-58).



After calling it quits with his playing career, Pierson made a seamless transition into broadcasting, calling Bruins games alongside play-by-play announcer Fred Cusick — first on WBZ radio before transitioning to TV broadcasts. For many, both Cusick and Pierson were the voices of some of the most fruitful stretches in the Original Six franchise's history and introduced thousands to the game of hockey through TV sets around New England.