Jeremy Swayman shares mindset ahead of competition with Linus Ullmark

Author Ty Anderson

October 14th, 2021 4:36 PM

The Bruins have yet to announce a true starting goaltender for the 2021-22 season.

There’s a good chance they won’t at any point during the year, to be honest. That’ll be a week-to-week thing for B’s coach Bruce Cassidy, and it’ll be an on-ice battle between second-year pro Jeremy Swayman and the $20 million addition Linus Ullmark. But it’ll be the right kind of battle, as explained by the 22-year-old Swayman.

“We are teammates, and that’s the best part about it all,” Swayman said. “We want what’s best for the team. Everyone that wears the spoked B knows the same thing. It’s a high-competitive locker room. We understand that if we compete against each other, it’s only going to make the team better. I think that’s our mindset.”

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  And forget the season. The Bruins haven't even named a starting goaltender for the first game of the season.
  
  They have their goalie plans for October mapped out (as always, subject to change), but when it comes to Saturday night's Game 1, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is going to let us shiver with antici...... pation for another 24 hours.
  
  But if we're going off the preseason, this isn't much of a contest.
  
  In net for three starts, Swayman posted a .932 save percentage (second-best among goalies with at least 100 minutes played) and stopped all but three of the 21 high-danger shots faced. Swayman was especially devastating at five-on-five, with an otherworldly .978 save percentage over that three-game sample. Swayman's timing, movement, and poised looked just as good as it did during his 10-game run last season, and Swayman himself called it a "great" camp for his game.

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  The same could not be said for Ullmark.
  
  Adjusting to a new city and system after spending the first six seasons of his NHL career with the Sabres, Ullmark's first preseason with Boston featured an 0-0-2 record and an .839 save percentage with 10 goals allowed on 62 shots faced. Among the group of 27 goalies with at least 100 minutes played in the preseason, that .839 ranked as the fourth-worst.
  
  “[Ullmark]'s just gotta tighten up,” Cassidy acknowledged following the preseason finale. “Some pucks are finding their way through and for a big man, that’ll be a challenge. That’s how a lot of goalies are judged. Do they get beat with good shots or are they getting through you? We gotta make sure that [goalie coach] Bob [Essensa] tightens him up. Some of the pucks are finding ways to get through him and he’ll have to work through that.”
  
  The Bruins are aware that Ullmark, whose 2021 season ended in mid-April due to an injury, needs more reps to get his game to where the Black and Gold hope it will be for them this season and beyond.
  
  As for the competition, however, Swayman isn't focused on winning the battle that clearly seems to favor him in the now, but rather working with Ullmark to see how they can win together.
  
  "Linus and I, we’re great friends, he’s a great person [and] I love competing with him every day," Swayman said. "Whatever we can do to help the team win, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Click here for 98.5 The Sports Hub’s complete coverage of the Bruins. 

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

Category:

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• Ty Anderson

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boston bruins,Jeremy Swayman,Linus Ullmark