BOSTON -- With days ticking down to the reunion between former goaltending partners Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, they had not yet set up dinner plans for the night before the game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators at TD Garden on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NESN, CITY). But it seemed likely that something would get worked out, with location and credit card holder still to be determined.
“I don’t know who’s buying. Maybe me,” Swayman said, a nod to the eight-year, $66 million contract he signed Oct. 6, two days before the Bruins opened the 2024-25 season.
Of course, as he acknowledged, Ullmark has more in the bank already, leaving the dinner bill down to a career lifetime earnings vs. future potential earnings debate. And Ullmark also signed a four-year, $33 million contract Oct. 9, matching Swayman’s $8.25 million average annual value.
Swayman smiled.
“It would be really special,” he said.
For the past three seasons, Swayman and Ullmark shared a net, a friendship, and a series of increasingly beloved postgame hugs, becoming a bright spot for their team and for hockey.
But with each goalie asking to start 55 games this season, according to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, there wasn’t enough room for both on the Bruins roster. So Ullmark was traded to the Senators on June 24 for a package that included goalie Joonas Korpisalo, now Swayman’s backup in Boston, along with forward Mark Kastelic and a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, used to select forward Dean Letourneau at No. 25.
Now, Ullmark returns.
“It’s going to be fun, interesting, a lot of emotions, but I feel that it’s going to be sort of a forever memory,” Ullmark said of coming back to Boston.
In three seasons, Ullmark was 88-26-10 with a .924 save percentage and 2.28 goals-against average in 130 games (126 starts), winning the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL in 2022-23. He raised his game and his national profile during the stint, and formed a tight bond with Swayman, with whom he shared the William M. Jennings Trophy in 2022-23 as the goalies on the team that allowed the fewest goals in the NHL.
“It’s one of those things you don’t realize how good it was until it’s gone,” Swayman said. “I’m so lucky to have ‘Korpi’ now. It was just such a seamless transition, our friendship and camaraderie, but it’s just like losing a brother. You create all these traditions, you create such an incredible bond, and you’ve got to find new ones.
“It’s like starting fresh again. I still find myself doing some routines that we still did together, which is really fun. It’s something that I find comforting and what I’m used to and helps you get into a routine of things. But I miss him a ton.”
The pair bonded over their position, over their values, coming from northern Alaska (Swayman) and northern Scandinavia (Ullmark), over their shared sense of purpose.
“I think the overall humbleness for the task at hand, to be able to put your pride aside when it comes to our position,” Ullmark said of why they worked. “We kind of clicked on a personal level, I think mostly depending on our upbringing and what we kind of came from.”
While Swayman has continued some of those Ullmark traditions with Korpisalo, including their toast -- with water -- before every game, there are others, including the hugs, that just wouldn’t feel right with someone else.
There was the high five at the end of morning skate when the starting goalie would head off, there was seeing each other’s families, particularly Ullmark’s wife, Moa, and their kids.
“It’s those kinds of things that created such a close-knit bond with us that I miss a lot,” Swayman said.
The Bruins goalie said the offseason was a process of understanding the change that was coming, but also something he took as “a new beginning.”
“One door closes, a new one opens,” he said. “That’s how we have to look at these situations, I think, just new opportunities to arise.”
The beginning of the end for them as partners came during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when instead of sharing the net 50/50 as they had, Swayman took the reins and started 12 of the Bruins’ 13 postseason games. He had a .933 save percentage and 2.15 GAA.
This season, Ullmark has a 2-4-0 with a 3.02 GAA and .892 save percentage in seven games with the Senators. Swayman, who missed training camp while he was without a contract, is 4-5-1 with a 3.14 GAA and .894 save percentage in 10 games.
Since Ullmark moved on to Ottawa, it hasn’t been as easy to keep in touch. It’s not like before, when they shared practice days and plane rides and games, long stretches to nurture their friendship. Swayman said they try to keep in contact weekly, with texts and phone calls.
“From time to time. Not very often,” Ullmark said. “He has his own thing; I have my own thing. It’s easier to kind of keep in touch when you’re on the same team. But once you get into the rhythm of the season, it’s hard to take time for that sort of things. You tend to focus on yourself and your family more.”
While the end was inevitable, those three seasons they had together in Boston will forever be part of their story, something both goaltenders will cherish. They’re looking forward to a return and a reunion this weekend.
“It’s just something that goes above and beyond hockey, which is really nice,” Swayman said.
NHL.com independent correspondent Callum Fraser contributed to this report.
