Bruins Goalie Duo’s Success Fueled By Healthy Competition

BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Boston Bruins have a hefty chunk of change tied up into their goalie tandem of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark.

Swayman and Ullmark are both paid like No. 1 options, which isn’t necessarily all that surprising, as an argument can be made that both men are among the very best the league has to offer. They combined to win the William M. Jennings Trophy for best goaltending duo in 2023, while Ullmark won the goalie triple crown and took home the Vezina Trophy.

The Bruins’ magical regular season run led directly to a nice payday for Swayman, who took home roughly $3.5 million after going to arbitration with the Bruins. It’s something that prompted questions about his relationship with Ullmark and whether money could be a dividing factor.

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Nope.

“There’s nothing separating that guy and I,” Swayman said Tuesday. “It’s something that I’m really excited about. I’m really looking forward to being back in action with him. … It’s the little things. The guys that really care about you and understand the process you went through — you know he’s going to be supportive and he was, and that’s something I’ll forever be grateful for. There’s no other guy I’d want to go to battle with every day, so I’m really excited about doing that.”

The relationship between Swayman and Ullmark is a strong one, but doesn’t come without a desire to compete. The Bruins are focused on winning hockey games, and only one man can mind the net at a time, meaning those goalie hugs everyone loves are born from a mutual respect.

“That’s what makes it so special, is that if we didn’t have that (internal drive) we’d be pissed at each other because that wouldn’t elevate our game. That’s something that we take really seriously — if I’m not competing as hard or he’s not competing as hard in practice, we know that if we slump in games the other guy is going to take that net. That’s what is going to elevate our level every single game.

“That’s something that could get overlooked sometimes from a viewer standpoint, but on the ice him and I know that if we’re not elevating our game every single day the other guy is going to take over the net and we’re not going to help the other guy get better and we’re not going to help the team get better.”

“Him and I know that if we’re not elevating our game every single day the other guy is going to take over the net.”

Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman on Linus Ullmark

In attempting to recreate the success they had in 2022-23 — where Ullmark went 40-6-1 with a 1.89 goals against average and a .938 save percentage, and Swayman posted a 24-6-4 record with a 2.27 GAA and a .920 save percentage — that drive to push each other will have to reach another level.

“It’s that kind of mentality that we’ve had that’s going to take care of itself, because we know that if we compete with each other to the highest level, we’re going to give our team a chance to win any given night,” Swayman said.