Inside struggles of Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman, Senators’ Linus Ullmark in nets

Known for their postgame hugs of each other, the goaltending tandem of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark became one of the best in the league over three seasons for the Boston Bruins.

Unfortunately for the duo, with Swayman’s emergence in the playoffs last season and Ullmark’s pending free agency in 2025, Boston sent Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in June for depth forward Mark Kastelic, backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and a first-round pick in 2024.

However, things haven’t gone to plan for the Senators (9-11-1) or Bruins (10-9-3) with their starting netminders this season. Swayman and Ullmark have struggled immensely, each sporting a save percentage below .890.

Here is what has gone wrong for the netminders:

Jeremy Swayman’s holdout

The Bruins, who host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, decided in the offseason that Swayman would be their full-time starter, but they still had to sign the restricted free agent to a new contract. Unfortunately for Boston, that didn’t come easily. Swayman held out until Oct. 6, two days before the Bruins’ opener against Florida. 

After missing all of training camp and preseason, Swayman struggled in his first regular-season game, stopping just 20 of 24 shots in a 6-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens. 

Swayman’s struggles could be attributed to the lack of preseason games that would’ve allowed him to ease back into the swing of things.

Too many games to handle?

Although Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in 2022-23, he only started 48 games, the lowest number of games started for a Vezina Trophy winner in a non-shortened season. In the three seasons Swayman and Ullmark were teammates with the Briuns, Swayman played 122 games and Ullmark 130, a near-even split.

After spending three seasons in a tandem, perhaps neither goalie was prepared for a full-time starter role. Typically, a starting goaltender plays 50 or more games during a regular season. For Ullmark, the 48 games he started for Boston in 2022-23 were a career high.

What the analytics say

In addition to their poor save percentages, analytics also show that Swayman and Ullmark aren’t necessarily victims of poor team defense in front of them. Ottawa, which plays next at San Jose on Wednesday, and Boston are fifth and 14th in shots against per game, respectively. 

When it comes to goals saved above expected, Swayman is the eighth-worst goalie in the league with a -6.5 mark, while Ullmark is 10th worst with -5.7. Ullmark is even worse in five-versus-five situations, ranking last among goaltenders with an -8.6 5v5 goals saved above expected. Swayman sports a -0.9 figure.

Additionally, when it comes to their value provided to their teams, both Ullmark and Swayman have a negative 5v5 Wins Above Replacement, per MoneyPuck. Ullmark’s is a league worst -1.43 while Swayman’s is a -0.15. 

Can they turn things around?

With both teams sitting outside the playoff picture, they’ll need their netminders to return to form to make it to the postseason. 

Swayman’s November was an improvement from October, albeit slight (.890 save percentage to .884 save percentage in October). On the flip side, Ullmark’s has played worse, going from .904 to just .864 save percentage.

Given their play before this season, it’s likely that both find their form. 

However, if Swayman and Ullmark don’t bounce back soon, Boston could be out of the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and Ottawa will miss the playoffs for the eighth straight season.