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BHN Puck Links: Where Is Calder Love For Boston Bruins Swayman?

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Boston Bruins

Where is Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman in the discussion for the Calder Trophy for the upcoming NHL season?

Certainly, there are bigger favorites and those are being trumpeted in preview articles all over the NHL map. Montreal’s Cole Caufield is a favorite coming off his impressive run during last year’s playoffs for the Canadiens, and Spencer Knight is certainly going to get plenty of opportunity manning the pipes for the Florida Panthers. Ducks center Trevor Zegras and Detroit’s Moritz Seider will factor into the discussion as well, so there’s a talented crop of first year players vying for the NHL’s rookie of the year award.

But the 22-year-old Swayman was dominant in 10 games (does anybody remember the .945 save percentage?) with the Bruins last season and he’s entering into a situation with a wide-open net competing with Linus Ullmark, and a quality Boston team that’s going to play good defense in front of him.

Swayman also looked every bit a No. 1 goaltender in preseason where by all rights he earned the start on opening night, regardless of what the Boston Bruins end up doing. At least one of my hockey media buddies is on the train when it comes to taking good odds that he’ll win it.

It remains to be seen if Swayman falls into a bit of the sophomore slump after such an impressive debut, which we all saw happen with Flyers netminder Carter Hart last season. And it is true that there hasn’t been an NHL goalie to win the Calder Trophy since Columbus netminder Steve Mason did it 13 years ago, so that’s clearly a factor as well.

But it feels like Swayman is widely being ignored in a rookie of the year crowd where he should have earned a few more mentions, and a lot more love. Stay tuned on that one.

Now on to the BHN Puck Links:

*Why were Chris Wagner and John Moore waived by the Boston Bruins? The long and short of it is that there were people in front of them on the depth chart. (Boston Hockey Now)

*Jack Johnson has officially made the Colorado Avalanche roster as the Avs ready to begin the regular season. (Colorado Hockey Now)

*FOH (Friend of Haggs) Steve Carp was on the road with the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time in a couple of years, and it was fun. (Vegas Hockey Now)

*Good news in Washington as the Alex Ovechkin injury isn’t believed to be long term for the Capitals. (Washington Hockey Now)

*Barstool Sports wants a 2-minute Chris Berman segment on hockey broadcasts on ESPN. We’ll take a pass on that, but thanks! (Barstool Sports)

*The wide-ranging acceptance and support for Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price shows just how much the NHL is changing when it comes to the importance of mental health. (Pucks with Haggs)

*Speaking of ESPN and the NHL, pretty excited for them to jump into their NHL coverage on Tuesday night with the Penguins and Lightning. Can’t think of a better combo in the booth than Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro, either.

*The AP is going with the “one more time for a run at the Stanley Cup” theme with the Boston Bruins, but it remains to be seen if that’s actually going to be the case. (AP)

*For something completely different: Hell of a job by Matt Brown and Lucas Carr finishing their seventh Boston marathon, and their first to raise $50K for the Matt Brown Foundation. (WBZ News)

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