This season was a bounce back year for Jeremy Swayman and Bruins president Cam Neely has some reasons as to why.

During an appearance with Zolak and Bertrand, Neely pointed to Swayman’s full training camp and motivation to make the US Olympic team as catalysts for his improvement this year.

“When you miss training camp as a goaltender, it’s very hard to catch up,” Neely told Zolak and Bertrand, “I mean, when you’re not getting shots from NHL players, you’re not on the ice and having those kinds of battles in front of you, it’s hard to recreate that when you’re not in NHL practices. So, I think we all knew what type of goalie he could be, and he’s shown that in the past. But this year, he came in and he wanted to make the Olympic team, he wanted to make our team better. I think he had a really good offseason, came to camp ready to go, and he performed well for us, for sure, this year.”

Swayman missed last year’s training camp before signing an 8 year/$66 million extension.

Swayman’s .908 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average, despite improvements from last season’s .892 SV% and 3.11 GAA, likely won’t jump off the stat sheet for fans. His advanced metrics tell a different story.

This year, Swayman’s .534 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes was first among 19 qualified goalies (min. 50 starts) per MoneyPuck.

Using those same parameters, Swayman’s -.161 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes was 21st out of 22 goalies during the 2024-25 season.

It should be mentioned that the one goalie who trailed Jeremy Swayman in that metric last season was Buffalo Sabres’ goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Goaltending seems to be one the pronounced advantage the Bruins hold over the Sabres.

Buffalo will be without Alex Lyon to start the first round series against Boston, leaving starting goalie duties to Luukonen.

For Buffalo, it will be their first playoff series since the 2010-11 season. For Luukkonen, it’s his first time in the playoffs.

The Bruins will be in Buffalo taking on the Sabres in the first round of the NHL playoffs Sunday night. Game 1 pregame at 6:30 PM, puck drop at 7PM right here on 98.5 the Sports Hub.