An enormous part of the Boston Bruins’ success in the Bruce Cassidy era has been thanks to the goaltending. When Cassidy became the Bruins’ head coach, he had a quality goaltending tandem under his belt: Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin.
In the 2018 offseason, the Bruins let Khudobin walk away. However, not because they wanted to spend the salary-cap space elsewhere. The Bruins decided to bring in an even better, yet more expensive, netminder: Jaroslav Halak. Thus forming a rather expensive, but incredibly reliable goaltending tandem.
It’s safe to say that this has been a tremendous success achieved by the Bruins. Many teams around the League have gone the same exact way. After more than three years of almost infallible netminding, the story nears its end, as it seems.
Only a month ago, everything looked sharp. The Bruins have managed to shed 75 percent of the salary-cap hit of David Backes. The rumors of the salary cap going up by at least $3 million (maybe up by $7 million) swirled around. That would leave the Bruins with at least $24 million in the salary-cap space.
Not only would they manage easily to re-up Torey Krug, but to also find a space for Halak, perhaps.
Following his magnificent two-year stint with the Bruins, the veteran goaltender turns 35 in May. He should get more than a two-year deal worth $2.75 million per campaign he got from Don Sweeney in 2018. With the whole coronavirus uphold, the salary cap might remain flat or even decrease. For the Bruins, that would be a disaster.
Halak might be priced out of Boston. If that’s the reality, then what are the Bruins’ options? Perhaps, following years of quality netminding tandems, the Bruins will have to learn how to lean on Rask and some young and cheap backup option. Last time this occurred, Rask was exhausted, and the Bruins missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
The Bruins recently signed Jeremy Swayman from the University of Maine. His numbers were impressive, but experience shows it’s probably way too soon to consider him an NHL backup option. The development time for Swayman awaits in the AHL, instead.
This season, the Providence Bruins’ net has been occupied by Daniel Vladar and Maxime Lagace. Vladar has a .936 save percentage in 25 starts this season in the AHL. It wasn’t looking promising for him only a few months ago. Lagace has never been able to repeat his short hopeful stint from 17 NHL games from Vegas in 2017.
Kyle Keyser, a young, promising undrafted goalie, looked promising during his junior years. Nevertheless, the injury bug derailed his first pro season in Providence, allowing him only six starts. It’s almost a certainty that Keyser will require a few seasons to find his stride again.
The Bruins should seriously consider re-signing Halak as their top priority to maintain the status quo. Otherwise, they would have to bring in a possible veteran aid for the cheap price. Don’t forget that Rask himself completes a contract in 2021 as he recently hinted at potential retirement after that date.
