Jeremy Swayman is proving the doubters wrong and saving the Bruins

Wednesday night's win for the Boston Bruins over the New York Islanders was an eye-opening experience. The team was under siege for most of the game from the Islanders' offense, which showed that the defense could really use some help in Charlie McAvoy's absence. However, Jeremy Swayman's play was the main takeaway.

Swayman couldn't get in a groove last season after his training camp holdout. It was a lot to put on his shoulders as he juggled his first full-time starting job with a new, massive contract that dramatically increased his expectations. It wasn't an easy position to find himself in, and when the team needed him most, he crumbled.

If you take anything away from Swayman's media availabilities, it's that he cares about what his teammates and the fans think about him. The fans jumped all over him for his play last season, and you could see it weighing on him as the season went on. You know that he entered last offseason with extreme motivation not to prove the doubters wrong, but to win back the trust of the fans and his teammates.

He has been able to win that back this season and, in turn, has also started to prove the doubters wrong. Most believed that he wasn't capable of being a full-time starter and carrying the weight of the team on his own, but as the advanced numbers tell us this season, he is entirely up to the task.

Goals Saved Above Expected basically shows us how many times the team in front of a goalie left them on an island. Only the best of the best every season rank at the top of that statistic, and Swayman is starting to run away with the totals. He has 16.9 GSAx this season, which is two goals higher than Spencer Knight and over four goals higher than last season's MVP in Connor Hellebuyck.

Jeremy Swayman is proving the doubters wrong and saving... Team USA?

Swayman was Team USA's third goalie last year at the 4 Nations Face-Off. He sat in the press box watching Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger play all the important games. However, Oettinger is in the middle of an average season, and Hellebuyck is out for the next 4-6 weeks with an injury. While Hellebuyck will be back in time for the Olympics, and it'll be hard to dethrone him as the starter, Swayman will earn the backup role if he continues to play this way.

Swayman's resurgence started with his performance at last year's World Championships. Team USA will now see him as a goalie willing and able to face the pressure that comes with backstopping a nation.

It's amazing to see how far Swayman has come in the last year. He went from people wondering if he was capable of being a starter in the NHL to possibly being the best through the season's first quarter. The only thing Bruins fans would request is a bit better defensive play in front of him so that he isn't facing more expected goals than anyone else.