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Why Bruins need another elite Jeremy Swayman season to reach playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins returned to the playoffs in the 2025-26 NHL season after a disastrous 2024-25 campaign that saw the Original Six franchise finish with the league’s fifth-worst record.

The turnaround was powered by many different players. David Pastrnak tallied his fourth straight 100-point season. Morgan Geekie scored a career-high 39 goals. Charlie McAvoy posted a career-high 61 points. Young forwards such as Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdnov showed improvement.

But no player made a more significant impact than Jeremy Swayman.

The 27-year-old goalie had a bounce-back season. He was voted a Vezina Trophy finalist for the first time in his career, earned a spot on Team USA’s Olympic gold medal-winning roster and established himself as an elite goaltender.

Swayman posted a 31-18-4 record with a .908 save percentage and a 2.71 GAA. Those numbers don’t jump off the page, but the analytics painted a very different (and more favorable) picture.

If the Bruins are going to make it back to the playoffs in the upcoming campaign, they’ll need great goaltending again. They did not defend at a high level on a consistent basis last season. The B’s ranked 27th in shots against, 27th in scoring chances against and 29th in high-danger chances allowed in all situations, per Natural Stat Trick. They also went to the penalty kill a league-high 278 times. Swayman helped the Bruins overcome these defensive issues. He bailed out his teammates’ mistakes a lot.

Maybe the Bruins’ defense will be better this season. They added defensemen Will Borgen and Connor Clifton in the offseason. Hampus Lindholm is healthy. Frederic Brunet could inject some youth and playmaking ability on the back end. But relying on Swayman to overcome worrisome defending again and again is not an ideal strategy for long-term success.

The Atlantic could be the most competitive division in the league this season. Six of the eight teams, including the Bruins, have a realistic shot at the playoffs.

Four of the top eight teams in goals scored last season were in the Atlantic — Lightning (No. 4), Sabres (No. 5), Canadiens (No. 7), Senators (No. 8) — and that doesn’t include the Panthers, who are healthy again after being decimated by injuries a year ago. They also added top-six forward Brady Tkachuk in the offseason. The crazy amount of offensive skill in the Atlantic will make goaltending even more important for a team like the Bruins.

Even though the Bruins finished 10th in goals scored last season, you could still argue that they do not have the offensive firepower to win high-scoring games on a consistent basis, and therefore will need great goaltending again. The B’s scored the second-most goals above expected last season, per MoneyPuck. Several players had a career-high shooting percentage. It’s fair to wonder if last season’s surprising scoring uptick was an outlier and if a regression is coming.

We did see a steep regression in the playoffs. The B’s scored an average of 1.25 goals over the last four games of their first-round series versus the Sabres. They needed Swayman to be almost perfect to win that series, and he gave them a chance, including a brilliant performance in a Game 5 overtime win on the road. The regular season is not the playoffs, but it would be foolish to just assume that Boston’s offensive improvement from last season will continue.

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Swayman posted great numbers while playing a career-high 55 games last season. Only eight goalies played more games than him. Karel Vejmelka of the Utah Mammoth was the only goalie to appear in 60-plus games.

Managing Swayman’s workload to keep him fresh but also maximize his production will be an important task for head coach Marco Sturm and his staff. He was asked about it last week.

“We’ll see, time will tell,” Sturm said at a press conference. “He had a pretty good run last year, and that’s why there’s a lot of nights we even talk about who’s going to be in net the other night or the next night. Sometimes we had to go with him because he was pretty hot for a while, so hopefully he’s going to have stretches like this again, regardless of who’s going to be the backup, a veteran or a young kid like Mikey [Michael DiPietro].

“We just want to give him the best opportunity, and hopefully he’s going to have another year like this, like he had last year for us, and get us a lot of good saves and a lot of points on the board.”

If the Bruins had gotten better and more consistent performances from backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo, maybe they wouldn’t have had to play Swayman in 55 games. Korpisalo tallied a lackluster .894 save percentage and a 3.15 GAA in 31 games played (28 starts). He had a few good stretches throughout the regular season, but overall, he wasn’t reliable enough.

Korpisalo was traded to the New York Rangers in July, and the new backup is expected to be Michael DiPietro, who excelled for the AHL’s Providence Bruins each of the previous three seasons and won the league’s MVP award last year.

DiPietro has more than earned his chance to be an NHL-level goalie. And if he can consistently give the Bruins a chance to win games while Swayman gets much-needed rest, it will significantly increase their chances of reaching the playoffs.

There are a lot of factors that will have to go right for the Bruins to make the playoffs from an ultra competitive division. One thing that has to go well is goaltending. Swayman needs to be the foundation of the team’s success. When he’s playing at the top of his game, the rest of the team gets a huge lift.

Luckily for the Bruins, Swayman has shown in the past that he’s capable of shouldering that kind of pressure. The B’s need that to continue if they’re going to build on last season’s success and get back to the second round of the playoffs.

Victor Olofsson left Las Vegas looking for a fresh start. A little more than a year later, after stops in Colorado and Calgary, he has found himself right back where it all began.

The former Colorado Avalanche forward is once again a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, returning to the organization he left in free agency after the 2024-25 season. What followed was a whirlwind stretch that included 60 games in Colorado, the birth of his second child, a trade to Calgary and, ultimately, another opportunity in the desert.

Olofsson's wife, Taylor, gave birth to the couple's second child during the Olympic break. Just over a week later, Olofsson was on the move, joining the Flames in the trade that sent Nazem Kadri back to Colorado.

Before that trade, Olofsson had put together a productive season with the Avalanche. He scored 11 goals and added 14 assists for 25 points in 60 games, including the first hat trick of his NHL career on Oct. 28.

His time in Calgary was considerably shorter. Olofsson finished with two goals and four assists in 18 games before free agency provided a familiar opportunity.

Vegas signed him to a one-year contract on July 1, bringing him back to the organization where he first experienced playoff hockey.

“I had a great time here last time around,” Olofsson told Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Danny Webster. “When the opportunity came, it felt like an easy choice. It was nice and quick. Happy to be back.”

There is also a new set of wheels waiting for him.

Cadillac of Las Vegas recently shared a photo of Olofsson picking up a brand-new Cadillac Escalade, posing alongside presumably the salesman. 

What better way to celebrate a return to the city of “lost wages” than by buying a brand-new car?

The Escalade is new. The opportunity in Vegas isn't.

A special congratulations to Victor Olofsson on the purchase of his Cadillac Escalade! Thank you for allowing Cadillac of Las Vegas to be part of your journey. ✨ pic.twitter.com/p8nzzAVtR6

— Cadillac Of Las Vegas (@cadillacoflv) September 21, 2026

Olofsson's first stint with the Golden Knights began with plenty of promise. He scored three goals in his first four games before a lower-body injury in October forced him to miss nearly two months.

This time, the circumstances could be different.

“I was a little bit in and out there the last time I was here,” Olofsson said. “I had a lot of good looks and chances, too, so we’ll see what happens this year. I’m ready for whatever and I’m excited.”

That is perhaps the biggest difference between Olofsson's first run with Vegas and his return. He has experienced another NHL organization, another trade and another season of trying to establish himself in a new environment.

Colorado was supposed to be a significant part of that next chapter.

Instead, Olofsson's time with the Avalanche ended before he could see the season through, with the veteran forward eventually becoming part of the trade that brought Kadri back to Denver.

Still, his 25-point season in Colorado gave him another productive stretch offensively, while his time in Vegas had already shown him what it is like to play for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

That experience appears to have remained important to him.

“The guys in the room, a lot of guys have won it one time and came close last year, too,” Olofsson said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”

For Olofsson, that goal was a major reason the decision to return to Vegas came together so quickly.

“That’s why I wanted to come back, too, was to win the Cup,” Olofsson said. “It’s always a team that’s in contention every year.”

Olofsson began his NHL career with the Buffalo Sabres after being selected 181st overall in the 2014 NHL Draft. He spent six seasons in Buffalo, including a 28-goal campaign in 2022-23, before eventually moving on to Vegas.

Since leaving Buffalo, Olofsson has played for Vegas, Colorado and Calgary, giving him three different stops before ultimately bringing him back to the Golden Knights. His chapter with the Avalanche lasted just one season, but it became another part of an NHL career that has taken several unexpected turns.

Now, after everything that has changed since he first left Vegas, Olofsson has another opportunity with an organization he already knows and a goal that has remained the same: winning the Stanley Cup.

And if his return to the desert needed one final touch, a brand-new hot rod isn't a bad way to start the next chapter.

The Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets met at Canada Life Center in Downtown Winnipeg for a preseason matchup. Winnipeg held on to a 3-1 win, but against an Avalanche squad that sent just 8 opening-night-roster-level players.

The Game

Things got off to a slow start, as this one definitely played out like a preseason game, with both squads not sending a full onslaught of talent onto the ice. Eventually, Gabriel Vilardi opened the scoring, with an assist from Isak Rosen and Vladislav Namestnikov.

Zachary L’Heureux couldn’t play the puck effectively along the boards; it got caught behind the net, and once Christian Wolanin got it in the corner, two Jets converged on him. Isak Rosen won the puck, found Vilardi in the slot, and he fired it home.

Winnipeg’s next mark came off the stick of Cole Perfetti, who did well to wait patiently at the back door as the Jets went low to high, found a streaking Mark Scheifele, and got it over to Perfetti for an easy goal. That made it 2-0 Jets after two periods of play.

Dylan Demelo’s point blast gave Winnipeg a commanding 3-0 lead in the third period, and Brett Kulak and Fabian Lysell finally helped Georgii Merkulov earn Colorado’s lone goal of the evening, bringing us to our final score of 3-1 Jets.

Takeaways

I was happy to see that Fabian Lysell had an apple on Colorado’s lone tally. His arrival in Colorado has some interesting dynamics, but his skill is clear. I noticed at camp that Bednar was pretty active in communicating with Lysell, and if that can foster some maturity in Fabian, he could end up panning out.

Netminder Ilya Nabokov’s stat line wasn’t great, letting in two goals on just five shots. The group in front of him did well to limit the opportunities, but he couldn’t have done much on Perfetti’s goal. I’d imagine he’ll keep getting ice time throughout the preseason so management can get a feel for his current capabilities in the North American game.

Only four of the players that were featured tonight for the Avalanche played in preseason game number one. It’s pretty common for the big guns not to travel for a road preseason game, so I’d expect more NHL usuals to be featured on Friday when the Jets come to Ball Arena.

Upcoming

The Avalanche will get back to Colorado and, as mentioned, welcome the Winnipeg Jets to Ball Arena on Friday at 6:30 p.m. MT.

Let us know what you thought of this contest in the comments!

Dylan Garand’s group placement throughout the opening stretch of training camp has captured his uphill battle in the competition with Joonas Korpisalo to serve as Igor Shesterkin’s backup. 

But Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan gave Garand a full preseason game to make his case Monday, and Garand held his own for nearly 58 minutes — with a group of mostly AHL players in front of him — against the Devils’ NHL lineup. And then Jack Hughes, with his 35 points in 26 regular-season games against the Rangers, snuck the game-winning goal past him in the Blueshirts’ 3-2 loss at Prudential Center in the exhibition opener. Garand finished with 27 saves and flashed plenty of good before Hughes’ tally with 2:12 remaining. 

“Yeah, maybe,” Garand said when asked if he thought he made a statement. “I mean I’ve just tried to, every day just try and give it my best and work hard and compete. … There’s so much out of my control, so I’m really just trying to limit that outside noise inside my head and just battle and lay it all out there.” 

There were plenty of moments where the 24-year-old maximized getting a full game. With the game tied at 2 in the third period after Drew Fortescue equalized, Garand stopped Hughes when the Devils star had an open shooting lane. When New Jersey had a power play late in the first period, Garand helped the Rangers escape without allowing a goal. The Devils had shifts with strong chances, Sullivan said, and “I thought Dylan made some timely saves in those scenarios.” 

The Devils produced their first goal with just over eight minutes remaining in the second period. Meier’s pass hit Dennis Cholowski and went to Nico Hischier, whose shot bounced off Urho Vaakanainen and in. Then, after Anton Blidh tied it, Meier gave the Devils the lead in the final minute of the frame when he curled around the net and snuck the puck past Garand. 

In a condensed preseason, his three-game cameo from 2025-26 — when he produced a .948 save percentage and a 1.62 goals against average — might not be enough to avoid hitting waivers. It might be enough for the Blueshirts to endure the logistical nightmare of carrying three goaltenders going into the season. 

But for nearly 60 minutes, he continued to make his case. 

“We’re trying to give them an opportunity to make an impression,” Sullivan said of giving Garand a full game, “and so given the nature of the shortened training camp, less games, we just felt it was the right thing to do.” 

When the Rangers worked on special teams for the first time in training camp Monday, plenty of pieces from the past remained. But there was also an element of intrigue when Pavel Dorofeyev and his left-handed shot joined Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller and Alexis Lafrenière. Defenseman Sean Durzi quarterbacked the second unit alongside Gabe Perreault, Will Cuylle, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen, and Sullivan said he thinks the unit once again “can be a difference-maker for us.” 

Forward Adam Sykora and defenseman Vincent Iorio were both being evaluated for lower-body injuries, Sullivan said postgame. Sykora exited midway through the first period after taking a crushing hit in the corner and appearing to favor his right leg. 

The Rangers announced that they’ll wear a Garden of Dreams Foundation patch as their official one this season, replacing Mark Messier’s “Game 7” patch from 2025-26.