Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman offered a sneak peek of his potential during his debut season, but it was the 2021-22 campaign when the 23-year-old appeared to be the future in Boston.
Swayman, with a brief stop in Providence during Tuukka Rask's comeback attempt, made 39 starts during his second season for the Black and Gold. He finished with a .916 save percentage and a 2.41 goals against average in 41 games played.
"I was just excited to be a part of it, lot of good experience moving forward," Swayman told reporters Monday during exit interviews at Warrior Ice Arena. "I can assure you that I got a lot of fuel for the fire this summer, motivation-wise. And I'm going to do everything I can to come back prepared."
The Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs Saturday with a Game 7 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Swayman played each of the final five games in the series, leading the Bruins to consecutive wins in Games 3 (.926 save percentage) and 4 (.923) at TD Garden before another victory in Game 6 (.920).
"I'm happy for the experiences that I've had so far. And I'm telling you it's just added motivation. I don't want to feel how I felt a few days ago ever again," Swayman said in reference to allowing three goals on 31 shots in Boston's Game 7 loss. "So I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen again. But just going into the full year, traveling, being close to this team. It was an incredible year. I learned so much. We have great veterans in here and just really excited with what I learned this year and to bring it forward with me moving on."
Swayman shared that he plans to go back home to Alaska to take some time away this offseason. He plans to return to Boston in August as he gets ready for another campaign with postseason aspirations.
"Definitely off-ice stuff, keeping the body in shape, prepare myself for another long season," Swayman said when asked what he'll be focusing on this summer. "I learned a lot about myself off the ice this year just with recovery, preparation. And on-ice stuff, just making sure to focus on hands, puck play, anything that a goalie needs to do well."
The Bruins will have some questions to answer this offseason -- specifically regarding the future of Patrice Bergeron -- but Boston's tandem in net, with the veteran Linus Ullmark and younger Swayman, gives them one less thing to worry about.
