Swayman embraces ‘challenge’ of contract with Bruins, playing time at 4 Nations Face-Off

BOSTON -- Jeremy Swayman was, he guesses, about five when he realized that he could be the best.

As long as Swayman can remember, he not only wanted to be the best goaltender in the world, he thought he could be. It was ingrained in him, that he could work hard enough and find enough skill that all his dreams would come true.

“I always wanted to be that goalie. I always wanted to be on the ice,” he said. “No one was going to beat me.”

Which is why this season has been so mind-bending, a whirlwind of a past eight months that is finally starting to settle into what Swayman imagined it would be. Since Swayman took over the net for the Boston Bruins last spring, starting 12 consecutive games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, lifting the Bruins into the Eastern Conference Second Round, cementing himself as one of the top goalies in the NHL and a potential Vezina Trophy favorite, his world has gone topsy-turvy and is just now starting to right itself.

When asked about what it’s been like this season, Swayman laughs.

“I’d say I gained the most experience I ever have besides my freshman year in college (University of Maine), just with new obstacles coming my way, adversity, obviously, and understanding myself as a human being and the unknown coming to be known,” Swayman said. “Everything happens fast.”

And it won’t stop any time soon. Swayman, whose Bruins are set to visit the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSGSN, NESN, TVAS-D), will be leading Boston through a fight to even get into the playoffs, a rare situation for a perennial contender. He will also be playing for the United States against Canada, Sweden and Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20.

It's a scenario he envisioned way back in college, when he and Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger (and Joseph Woll) teamed up for the U.S. at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship. Now, Swayman and Oettinger are joined by Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, making up the highest-regarded goaltending trio participating in 4 Nations.

“We were laughing when we first met at World Juniors, wearing the USA jersey together, that one day we’re going to be battling for the rest of our careers,” Swayman said, of Oettinger.

It’s something he called, “a dream come true.”

But the past year hasn’t exactly gone the way he dreamed it.

After Swayman surpassed partner and close friend Linus Ullmark as the Bruins’ top goalie, they opted to trade Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators on June 26, paving the way for Swayman as the No. 1.

First, though, they had to sign him.

It was a fight that turned rancorous, with Swayman missing the entirety of training camp before signing an eight-year, $66 million contract ($8.25 million average annual value) on Oct. 6, two days before the season opener. Swayman had spent training camp working out at Boston University, but it wasn’t the same.

“I know that when the going is tough, that’s when I want to rise to the top,” Swayman said. “I want that adversity. I wanted the challenge of not having a training camp and coming in and kicking [butt]. And that’s hard to do, and probably most likely unrealistic.

“That was a challenge that I had to really click in, have my own personal kind of training camp when I was finally back with the group again. But we were running, on the season, so that was a challenge that I really embraced and feel that I learned a lot from.”

He started the season 12-10-3 with a 3.05 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage, a far cry from his career numbers (2.45, .914). But since the holiday break, Swayman has been trending upward, with a 2.66 GAA and .919 save percentage in nine starts, even though he has gone 3-5-1, including giving up five goals on 44 shots Sunday, a 6-5 shootout loss to the Senators.

“It’s been a great season for getting over adversity,” Swayman said. “It’s the best feeling in the world when you’re down and out mentally and your play’s not there and all of a sudden you work, you work, you work, and you trust your process and come out on top and get a little bit of success.”

He ticked off goalies who had gone through difficult periods: Tuukka Rask, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Sergei Bobrovsky.

This, he said, is his first real test. He still believes.

“I’d be doing myself a disservice and I’d be doing my teammates a disservice, and I’d be doing this team a disservice if I didn’t believe I was the best goalie in the world every single time I touch the ice,” he said. “I still have that mentality no matter what it is. I know that is my ceiling and that’s my goal and I’m going to achieve it, no matter what it takes.”

One of Swayman’s most notable characteristics is his complete and utter confidence, the surety he has in himself and his place in hockey. It’s something that has been the subject of countless conversations, including those he’s had with defenseman Brandon Carlo, a sounding board on the team.

“We’re guys that communicate with each other a lot, just on the mental side of things,” Carlo said. “I love his perspective. He has a very good head on his shoulders. … Even when he seems like he’s battling it or fighting it, I never even worry about him because the conversations I’ve had with him away from the rink, I recognize that he’s in the right space mentally to get through it.”

And when things aren’t going well, when the bounces are going past him and the pucks are getting through, Carlo has noticed Swayman is able to attack rather than retreat, that he’s able to switch to a “challenge mentality.”

But just getting there can be tough. Because not only was Swayman trying to get up to speed quickly, he was working under the elevated expectations and stress that came with the mammoth contract he signed, the eyes of the hockey world on him.

“When you’re in your head mentally, you feel like you’re alone in it, so I really appreciate [him], he’s been a guy for me that I’ve leaned on a lot, too, because he’ll be playing fantastic, I’ll be having a tough spurt and I can just talk to him,” Carlo said.

“Just not feeling like you’re alone in it is huge. And it can feel that way, when you come into the room and you’re kind of stuck in your own head and you feel like, ‘I’m the one messing it up.’ But it’s a team game and it’s never really that way, so I’m proud of him for handling it.

“It’s not easy being the head goalie in Boston. That’s one of the toughest jobs I can think of.”

It all goes back to one day at a time, one game at a time, one save at a time.

“That’s something I’ve learned especially from the beginning of the year, to separate and understand that the most important thing in the world right now is three feet in front of my face,” Swayman said. “That’s really helped me simplify things and have success.”

He has come to realize that past success is no guarantee of current or future success, something that came home to him while reading John Wooden’s book, “Wooden.” So, while what he did in the playoffs last season, earning a .933 save percentage and 2.15 GAA in 12 straight starts, gives him insight into what he can be, he also knows it will take even more work, more focus, more dedication to his craft to achieve it again.

“I think he’s handled it well,” Bruins coach Joe Sacco said. “You miss training camp, it doesn’t matter what you are, if you’re a goalie, forward or [defenseman], it takes time to find your game and get up to speed. This is a very difficult league to catch up in. … He’s worked his way back to get his game where he expects it to be, and that’s really what we were looking for.”

For Swayman, and the Bruins, there is good in what they have seen lately, the idea that Swayman can help lift them, even while they’ve struggled to find their stride this season. They may also soon be getting help in the form of returns from defenseman Charlie McAvoy (out since Jan. 11) and Hampus Lindholm (out since Nov. 12).

That’s key, with the 4 Nations Face-Off coming up. With Hellebuyck and Oettinger on top of their games, it will be difficult to unseat either of them, difficult to come by the minutes Swayman is yearning for as he returns to USA Hockey.

He knows, too, that there are decisions coming for more best-on-best, with the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics rapidly approaching.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” he said. “In order to attain that goal, you need to do everything you can right now to help your team win, whatever jersey you’re wearing. Right now, that’s the Boston Bruins. And on Feb. 13, it will be a USA jersey.

“I know that if I give my team a chance to win every single night, everything else will take care of itself. The goal is to be an Olympian. Best on best. That’s going to come if I do my job right here, right now.”