The Bruins' Goaltending Question: A Midseason Reflection for 2024-2025

As the 2024-2025 Bruins season reaches its midpoint, the team faces a significant question: the absence of Linus Ullmark, the once-reliable pinnacle in the net for the past three years.

By: Eitan Mirel

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Bruins fans no longer have much to look forward to at the end of the game. For the past three seasons, after a win and Dirty Water echoed through the Garden crowd, the two goalies would rejoice in their signature post-game celebration. Swayman would no longer dress as Santa each Christmas with the Ullmarks. A brotherhood was separated.

With 2024-2025 Bruins season reaching the halfway point, the pressing question must be asked about a missing pinnacle in net for Bruins over the past three seasons, Linus Ullmark.

While it has become apparent year after year that Bruins have seemed to be on a downward trajectory since their record breaking season, after moving on from legends of the spoked-B like Bergeron and Kreci. It has not come to fruition nearly as much as the Bruins on-ice performance, or lack of it so far this season. The team has struggled with mounting issues across the board, and seem disconnected and unmotivated. Observing the Bruins' trajectory, it's apparent that they've experienced a gradual decline since their record-breaking season, with this year seeing another noticeable dip.

While it is unfair to pin the blame on newly acquired goaltender Joonas Korpisalso who was acquired as a part of the Ullmark deal and has shown a resurgence. Similarly Jeremy Swayman who got off to a slow start after his contentious contract situation, but appears to be returning to form, many fans have been quick to criticize both. It's become clear that the Bruins have grappled with numerous issues this season. Both goalies although they have not been as stellar or record breaking as the pair of Ullmark and Swayman who appeared to benefit off each other success and competition in net due to their brotherly connection. The new duo has still certainly given the Bruins a chance to win every night, and a good one. Many fans may point fingers at the goaltending, but the peak of the problem lies in their goal-scoring struggles.

At the end of the day, it seems the Ullmark and Swayman’s perfect match had to come to an inevitable end. I do feel that the Bruins, if they still had these two top tier goalies in net would surely be in a better position than they are right now, but something had to give. Both goalies told General Manager Don Sweeney in the offseason they wanted to start the majority of games, so something had to be given, particularly since both goalies expressed a desire to be the starter. Despite Linus Ullmark recently winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie, it was evident last season that Swayman was emerging as the franchise's number one, especially given his stellar playoff performances. Swayman put the Bruins on his back, as well as factoring the difference between Swayman and Ullmark’s career trajectories with Swayman being over six years younger and on an upward trajectory in his career. Whereas Ullmark, 31, is aging and will likely start to regress in the coming years. Although the decision was difficult I do think the correct decision was made to move on from Ullmark and give Swayman the net. Additionally given the fact Swayman was a RFA (Restricted Free Agent) this past offseason season and Ullmark was a pending UFA in summer 2025 (Unrestricted Free Agent) meaning a bidding war could be on the horizon, this further justified the decision to move on. Many Bruins fans expressed frustration over Swayman's contract standoff during the summer and his shaky start this season. Yet, as the season progresses, Swayman is showing signs of realigning with his potential. Without the support of Ullmark, both goalies have faced challenges. Swayman is heating up, while Ullmark has dealt with injuries and setbacks. In hindsight, the difficult decision to prioritize Swayman seems justified, though uncertainty lingers as to how this scenario will evolve in the coming years.

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Over the summer, the team faced a significant dilemma: retaining both of their top goalies proved to be infeasible due to their substantial salary demands. Allocating starting player salaries to two goaltenders was simply impractical, given the urgent needs in other roster areas. Consequently, Ullmark was traded to Ottawa, where he secured the exact same contract to Swayman's, 8.25 million per year. A coincidence, you can be the decider of that. The Bruins felt it was unfeasible to be paying both goalies starting goalie money when there were glaring issues on this roster that needed to be addressed, like a first line center and winger.

This move freed up cap space; however, the manner in which General Manager Don Sweeney decided to utilize these resources has raised eyebrows. Sweeney's decision to sign Nikita Zadorov, now leading the NHL in penalty minutes this season, is particularly controversial. Zadorov's performance has been underwhelming, and he has exhibited a lack of agility and made many questionable defensive decisions. In the first year of his massive five-year contract, that signing is already appearing to be a costly mistake. Similarly, Elias Lindholm, who is now on a daunting seven-year contract, has shown a noticeable decline in his performance in his first year with the B’s. These questionable signings make it clear that Sweeney did not in any way properly utilize the freed money, and now the Bruin’s will be held down by these paper weights, setting them back for years to come. These decisions, in my opinion, raise the crazy question that maybe retaining Ullmark and Swayman might have been a wiser use of funds. Additionally , despite Sweeney's limited leverage, the return on Ullmark's trade was disappointingly low, offering only small immediate benefits in Mark Kastelic nor significant prospects for the future. The draft pick Sweeney received and used to draft Dean Letournea is already not shaping up well. This trade has been perceived not just as a missed opportunity but as a substantial management misstep. The central lesson here is unmistakable: the responsibility for these decisions lies with General Manager Don Sweeney, and as “Fire Sweeney” chants have been yelled by Garden faithful, it is imperative that finger should start to be pointed in his direction.