Jeremy Swayman opens up as relationship with Bruins’ dressing room is reportedly strained!

On Tuesday, the Boston Bruins fired coach Jim Montgomery after stumbling to a losing record in their first 20 games. The Bruins are off to an 8-9-3 start (.475 points percentage) and outside of a playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, and while players have been mostly to blame for the awful start, it was Montgomery who got the boot.

However, one player who definitely needs to step up is goalie Jeremy Swayman, who has a 5-7-2 record with an .884 save percentage and a 3.47 goals-against average. The netminder missed the team’s training camp in September as he was at the time locked in a contract stalemate with the team. He eventually signed a an 8-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $8.25 million. But at this time, he does not deserve that lucrative deal.

On Tuesday, Swayman faced media and admitted that he knows exactly what needs to be done.

“I need to step up and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”

Team insider Fluto Shinzawa also reported that Swayman’s hardline contract stance has had an impact on the Bruins’ dressing room and could be an additional reason on why the club has struggled since the start of the 2024-25 season. Shinzawa does not name Swayman as the lone scapegoat, but believes tension among teammates is possibly building.

“What’s done is done. Swayman’s priority is to find his confidence, clean up his game and prove to his teammates that he was right to play hardball. If Swayman continues to take backward steps, he will not have many friends left in the dressing room.”

The Bruins’ latest embarrassing loss came at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets and eventually led to the firing of Montgomery. Swayman allowed five goals on 29 shots in the 5-1 loss with many fans wondering if Boston made a terrible mistake with the goalie’s extension.

Shinzawa has the feelings the same question is being asked in the Bruins’ dressing room and clearly, Swayman needs to do something to get back in the good graces of his teammates.

And so yes Sway, step up!