Like Oettinger, we’ve only followed Swayman’s last 50 goals against the Boston Bruins, but after helping the United States win its first World Championship since 1933 during the offseason, there’s no doubt the 27-year-old can step in as a starter.
Funnel washers on the right: A lot of goals scored along the ice, outside of both skates, tend to be the result of backdoor hits on low side passes, or bounces and scrambles that strand a goalie and leave the net empty. Sometimes this happens more on one side than the other simply due to a team’s defensive strengths and weaknesses, but the fact that so many of these goals were scored to Swayman’s right is noticeable. Even though seven were rebounds or broken plays, and four were tap-ins, his tendency to get stuck in his butterfly and reach with the stick on second chances to his right stood out. Every goalie has a direction in which he moves best. For the most part, it’s toward the glove. This appears to include Swayman recovering from his knees, so trying to generate a second chance on that side could be beneficial.
Bring the bodies to the net: Swayman’s ability to maintain his edges while generating lateral pushing power even when taking a lower, wider stance has made him one of the best goalies in the NHL when it comes to defending rising lateral attacks. His success against these types of dangerous plays has continued this season, making it even more important to try to create offense out of chaos, with screens accounting for 20 percent of field goals recorded, well above the average of 15.1 percent. Interrupted games accounted for another 22 percent, also well above the 14 percent average. Swayman also holds his feet more on sharp angle plays, which fuels great movement on low and high plays, but it might be worth shooting a puck through his feet every now and then near the goal line to keep him honest and create rebounds.
Raised from afar: Swayman performs equally well up top and maintains active forward hands even as he widens and lowers in his save stance, but of the six net goals from the perimeter (12 percent, well above the 3.7 percent average), four were scored high.
