Bruins

Jeremy Swayman plans on starting new post-win tradition with Joonas Korpisalo

"Hopefully (Korpisalo) and I are going to find something cool."

By Conor Ryan

July 7, 2024

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The days of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark embracing on the ice after a Bruins victory are now a thing of the past.

But even though Ullmark is now expected to anchor the Ottawa Senators net in 2024-25, Swayman still plans on cooking up another post-win celebration with his new backup in Boston, Joonas Korpisalo.  

“I know we don’t have the hug anymore but there’s still going to be something going on after Bruins games, I can only imagine,” Swayman said in a Cameo. “Hopefully (Korpisalo) and I are going to find something cool, and we’ll keep that tradition going. No doubt.”

Even though Swayman has still yet to put pen to paper on a long-term extension with Boston, the writing is on the wall that both sides will eventually bridge the gap on a sizable deal — especially with both the Bruins and Swayman’s representatives opting to not go to arbitration for the second straight offseason.

The 25-year-old Swayman is seemingly ready to establish himself as Boston’s franchise netminder moving forward, especially after putting together a dominant run (.933 save percentage in 12 games) in net during Boston’s latest playoff run. 

Even though Ullmark and Swayman were seemingly stapled at the hip during their three seasons together in Boston, Swayman has already made a concerted effort toward making Korpisalo feel welcome after getting dealt to the Bruins as part of the Ullmark trade. 

“He reached out to me right away,” Korpisalo said of Swayman last week. “He texted me and I had a warm welcome to Boston. We tried to catch up for a call the last couple of days, but I think we’ll manage to do it. He seems like a great guy. Can’t wait to meet him and get to work with him.”

Even from afar, Korpisalo said that he has admired Swayman’s play and his mechanics between the pipes. 

“First of all, it’s so much fun to watch him play,” Korpisalo said. “The technique is there, the game sense is there. Everything is there. It’s the whole package. It’s fun to watch him play, especially when you’re in the other end trying to beat him. 

“Now being on the same team and obviously knowing how good of a relationship he had with Linus, he seems like a great guy and I’m looking forward to meet him and get to know him and spend time with him on the ice and off the ice. That’s how it starts.”

While Ullmark admitted last month that he’ll likely think of a new tradition to carry out with his new backup in Ottawa in Anton Forsberg, he added that the goalie hug will officially be retired for good.

“I’m not going to bring it to Ottawa,” Ullmark acknowledged. “The goalie hug that we had in Boston, that’s for me and Sway only — and that’s out of respect for what we had and what we built through our years together and the respect and love and admiration that I have for him.

“There’s certainly — I’m not gonna say we’re gonna come up with something new or anything like that. There’s always been the celebrations after winning games. So, we’ll see what happens. Who knows? Maybe there’ll be a dab or something. But I’m not gonna try too hard to come up with a new thing or something like that. I’m just gonna have to let it play out naturally.”