Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman has been named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month after a lights-out February, the league announced Tuesday.
Swayman went 5-1-1 with a .960 save percentage, 1.13 goals-against average and two shutouts in February. That actually includes a rough start against Pittsburgh right after the All-Star break in his first start back from a month in Providence.
In his six starts since then, Swayman has been completely dominant, going 5-0-1 with a .971 save percentage. Most recently, he stopped all 34 shots he faced in Boston’s 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
Swayman has rocketed up the NHL leaderboards over the last few weeks. Of the 63 goalies who have played the most minutes this season, he now ranks first in goals-against average (1.95), fourth in overall save percentage (.929), fifth in 5-on-5 save percentage (.937), and fifth in high-danger save percentage (.868).
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy acknowledged last week that Swayman was beginning to move ahead of Linus Ullmark as the team’s No. 1 goalie, and he hasn’t done anything to change that since.
Swayman probably won’t end up with enough starts to seriously challenge for the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year), but if he keeps playing like this and helps the Bruins finish strong, we probably shouldn’t rule it out.
Related
