If the Bruins can survive the primary two months of the season after they’re anticipated to overlook each Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, they’ve an opportunity to be a playoff crew once more. That a lot is evident.
But for them to be something greater than that simply may rely upon crucial place within the sport and, partly, a child the group believes has an opportunity to be particular — Jeremy Swayman. Whether or not Swayman can push his approach into the elite degree of goaltenders at the moment inhabited by the Andrei Vasilevskiys and Igor Shesterkins stays to be seen. But if you spend a little bit time with the preternaturally constructive and hyper-focused 23-year-old, you get the sense he won’t ever shortchange himself in pursuit of his lofty objectives.
The Herald caught up with the Alaska-raised, UMaine-produced netminder after an off-ice exercise final week in Brighton as he mirrored on his rookie season and appeared ahead to a marketing campaign that has him excited, each by having a 12 months of NHL expertise underneath his belt and the return of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to the fold.
Swayman is coming off a rookie season that, regardless of staging a back-and-forth battle together with his good buddy Linus Ullmark and taking a short AHL respite due to Tuukka Rask’s failed comeback try, was ok for him to complete in fifth place in Calder Trophy voting, posting a 23-14-3 document with a .914 save proportion and a 2.41 GAA. Combined with Ullmark (plus 4 appearances by Rask), the B’s boasted the fourth-fewest objectives towards within the league, behind solely the Hurricanes, Rangers and Flames.
Swayman believes that getting that first season underneath his belt, with the journey and the psychological and bodily grind of an 82-game season, ought to be big for him. His low season exercises have been centered a little bit extra on the off-ice core-strengthening to arrange him for the lengthy haul.
His purpose, naturally, is to go quite a bit additional than Game 7 of the primary spherical, which noticed the B’s get bounced by Carolina after Swayman took over in internet after Game 3 final spring.
“I think it gave me a boatload of motivation for the summer,” he mentioned of the playoff loss. “I have all the motivation to do the extra rep on the ice, do the extra rep in the gym, eat right, sleep right, just because I know what it takes now to make it to the next round and win important games like that. That’s what I took into this summer. I look back on this season with a lot of information to push forward. And that motivation has pushed me through this summer and I’m beyond excited to get going again.”
There’s nothing he doesn’t need to enhance on, but when there was one facet of his recreation that “needs work” it was his puck-handling.
“As the season went on I thought I got more confident and the communication with my defense was really important,” mentioned Swayman. “I think that was a really fun thing when we started making tape-to-tape passes without looking and just knowing where guys are going to be and learning tendencies on what guys like to do what when they come under the goal line. So I think that was a really good thing for myself and Linus to both work on and that’s something I’m definitely going to improve on.”
While Swayman could have the identical goalie teaching voice behind him in Bob Essensa, there’ll be a brand new voice on the high in head coach Jim Montgomery. Being each Black Bear alums, there’s a pure connection between the 2 and the whole lot he’s heard about Montgomery from gamers who’ve performed for him, like Providence’s Josiah Didier (at University of Denver) and Scott Perunavich (in St. Louis) has been constructive, in addition to with him, like B’s goalie goalie growth coach and fellow Maine alum Mike Dunham.
“It’s pretty amazing when every player you’ve talked to who has had him as a coach loves him as a person and as a coach,” mentioned Swayman, who together with Ullmark might even see a number of extra odd-man rushes as Montgomery has hinted his D-men may need a little bit extra of a inexperienced gentle within the offensive zone. “It says a lot to a player to hear that. In talking with him over the summer and getting to meet him in person again – I met him as a freshman in college when they had the 40th anniversary of Alfond (Arena) and the ’93 team came back – it was pretty special to meet him. He’s a winner. Everywhere he goes he seems to win, so let’s continue that tradition here.”
While the coach-player relationship is simply starting, Montgomery likes what he hears and sees from his new goalie.
“Very impressed with his mental maturity, his focus, his attention to detail, not only with his goaltending on the ice, I can tell that he retains a lot of information really well that he’s learned from coach Essensa and other goalie coaches he’s had,” mentioned Montgomery lately. “And when I talked to him a second time, he was in Arizona with his Dad and he was going on hikes every day with his Dad. To be a guy that’s a young, budding superstar in the league potentially and he’s taking the time in the summer to spend time with his Dad for a week to do hikes and play golf and stuff, I think that speaks volumes about him as a person.”
Montgomery sees Swayman’s partnership with Ullmark persevering with very like it did final 12 months, although there’ll nonetheless be a contest for enjoying time.
“From the outside looking in, watching them do that handshake they do at the end of games together, you can tell they’re in it together and rooting for each other,” mentioned Montgomery. “Today with the NHL schedule being so condensed, you have to have a 1A and 1B. Whether it’s going to be an even split or a (wider) split, I don’t know. It’s going to to have to play itself out. But we’re very happy to have the goaltending tandem we have.”
This is also a giant 12 months for the younger goalie’s checking account. After this season, his entry-level contract might be carried out and he’ll be a restricted free agent. If he performs like he and the crew hope, he’ll be getting a giant enhance from the $925,000 he’s incomes this 12 months.
He’s actually not unaware of his contract scenario. But if there’s a mantra Swayman lives by, it’s “focus on the moment.” It’s an method that helped him get to the NHL rapidly. It helped him come again stronger after the brief, numbers-induced demotion to Providence final 12 months. It helped him be prepared when his quantity was referred to as within the playoffs final season. He may as properly keep it up.
“It’s exciting but, again, all I care about is the here and now,” mentioned Swayman. “I know I have a job to do today. I just had a great workout and now I’m going to have a great meal. That’s all I care about. I know I want to be here for a long time. I absolutely love the city, I love this community, I love this team. And my goal is to bring a championship back to the great city of Boston.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com