The Boston Bruins will ice a near-NHL-ready lineup on Monday night when the Philadelphia Flyers visit TD Garden. The lineup features the preseason debuts of Jeremy Swayman and David Pastrnak, with all eyes on both for different reasons. While fans want to see if Pastrnak's tendinitis issue that kept him out of the lineup is no issue, fans also want to critique Swayman's first appearance after last season's debacle.
Swayman's struggles last season, for the most part, are due to his absence from the team's training camp. He held out for more money and missed the full preseason, which put an even bigger weight on his shoulders once he returned. If you're going to keep the team in limbo because you think you're worth more money, you'd better live up to those claims.
Swayman didn't come close to living up to it. His goals-against average skyrocketed to 3.11, and his save percentage went down to .892 over 58 appearances. He eclipsed his career-high in appearances by 14 games, but the extra reps didn't make up for the time he lost in training camp. The fans are hopeful that this season will go much smoother with a healthy defense and a full two weeks to get ready.
The goaltender's play took such a downturn last season that it's almost impossible to believe that he won't at least improve a little bit. While he saved almost 23 goals above expected in 44 games during the 2023-24 season, that number dropped to -6.43 in 58 games last season. It was unfathomable for a player to get paid as much as he did and finally land the unquestioned No. 1 role and fail so miserably.
Whether or not you want to believe analytics, it's hard not to imagine that Swayman will improve on last season's numbers just a little bit. He might not get to the 23 number that he recorded in 2023-24, but the water should at least find its level and land somewhere in the middle.
Swayman has no excuses this season. He will get one preseason appearance with a likely second one to come later this week. He participated in the full training camp with no issues and had a long offseason to fine-tune his game. If Swayman does struggle this season, it isn't going to go over well with the Bruins fanbase.
While these games don't really mean anything, a quiet-the-doubters performance in his first preseason appearance will go a long way to boost his confidence and get the 2025-26 season off on the right foot. If he has a bad performance on Monday night, the noise around him could get louder than ever before.