Jeremy Swayman and Team USA will be playing for their first gold medal at the IIHF World Championships in over 70 years on Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m. NHL Network), and the Bruins goaltender has to hope this is the perfect capper to what has mostly been a forgettable NHL season.
Swayman also has to be looking at this run with USA Hockey as exactly the kind of confidence-building experience that could catapult him into the big offseason he’s looking for to help engineer a rebound campaign in Boston next season. Swayman hasn’t been perfect during the world championships and the entire US team had a rough effort against Norway (before ultimately winning in overtime) during pool play, but he has been strong when the Red, White and Blue needed him most and has been clutch between the pipes just as he’s shown during prior postseason play with the Black and Gold.
All of this comes with the caveat that the world championships aren’t nearly as high pressure as the Olympics or even a Saturday night game against the Florida Panthers during the regular season, but still it’s high-level international competition with everybody having something to play for.
Swayman’s performance has really shown exactly how much confidence Team USA has in the 26-year-old goaltender that he got the start in a win-or-go-home semifinal game against a loaded Sweden team in Stockholm. The Bruins' netminder responded to the assignment by making 27 saves, including stopping 24-of-26 shots that he faced in the second and third periods as the Swedes ramped up their attack to try and stave off elimination in front of their home fans in Stockholm.
Heading into Sunday’s world championship game, Jeremy Swayman has played very well for Team USA. #NHLBruins #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/gVouZvu40c
— Shawn Hutcheon (@ShawnHutcheon) May 25, 2025
Swayman has is a perfect 6-0-0 with a .905 save percentage and a 1.98 goals against average in the tournament while divvying up the net with Seattle’s Joey Daccord and seems to have regained some of the swagger lost during a lost NHL season where a training camp holdout really submarined everything for him afterward.
The 3.12 goals against average and .892 save percentage were obviously nothing to write home about from his Bruins season, but Swayman did take optimism from how good he felt after playing in a career-high 58 games last season.
“I think you know, the learning that I had this year, just with the games played…that was awesome. And just getting to know my body, knowing where my mentals [are] at and wanting more and feeling really good is something that I can really build on,” said Swayman. “I take accountability, I wanted to play better. I know that I can play better, and that's something that I can't wait to work on. 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.
“What I learned this year is going to be really beneficial for a lot of years to come. I know that I can lean on every year for experience. This is one of those years that I'm going to lean on in hard times. We found ways to get out of it. At times, it was just hard for us to get rolling and [find] the formula in here. Even with all the changes that we had and the adversities, we still found ways to find success. Obviously in this game, it [comes down to] winning, wins and losses, and that's something that we know that we need to change next year for the better. I can't be [anymore] excited to get back at it and make sure that we've done the right things that we need to do based on the lessons we learned from this year.”
Clearly there will need to be a lot of work done by Swayman to repair his standing with almost everybody after a poor season that had off-ice distractions as well after his messy contract negotiations.
But it feels like Swayman has already begun applying some of those lessons learned at the world championships and it may allow him and the rest of his American teammates – including Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei – to enjoy some international success that’s become more and more of a USA Hockey staple in recent years. The Bruins have to hope that kind of momentum can be carried over into next season for a goaltender that’s going to have a lot of pressure on his shoulders coming out of the gate next year.
ONE TIMERS
• Interesting note from the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy that Don Sweeney indicated to him that the B’s weren’t waiting to interview any prospective head coaching candidates that were still working on playoff teams still alive, so that would seemingly rule out Dallas Stars assistant coach Misha Donskov, who was believed to be a candidate.
“Does (the resolved contract extension) help in terms of alignment when we’re talking [to head coach candidates]? Yeah, there’s no question it takes away some of the question marks in the process,” Sweeney acknowledged in an interview with the Herald. "To have a line of communication between the coach and the GM, it’s always an important variable, so I’m appreciative we have that. The timing is probably unique in the fact that we’re going through a coaching search, but deep down, I think I was separating the personal and the professional in my approach to things.”
One thing perhaps holding back Donskov’s potential candidacy was the fact he doesn’t have any prior head coaching experience at any of the major levels, a potential sticking point when it comes to an Original Six NHL franchise with a lot of media attention and scrutiny and just plainly shouldering the responsibility that comes with being the final bench boss. There’s no way of knowing how much of a factor this may or may not have been, but one would imagine the next Bruins head coach will at least have AHL, NCAA or major junior head coaching experience on their resume.
• It doesn’t appear to be an injury and nothing has been announced about Mason Lohrei not being with Team USA anymore, so it would appear that the 24-year-old just hasn’t been in the lineup over the last week-plus of hockey at the IIHF World Championships with eight defensemen currently on the roster. Lohrei did play well in his five games with a goal, three points and a plus-4 while averaging just over eight minutes per game. Fellow young defenseman Zev Buium has been in a similar situation as well, and that can be common as younger players are pushed down on the depth chart as other NHL players report to the world championships once their team is eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention.
On the plus side, Andrew Peeke has played in every game for Team USA to this point and has a goal, three points and a plus-8 while averaging over 18 minutes per game while serving as a penalty killer and stay-at-home stalwart for the Red, White and Blue.