(Photo Credit: @NHLBruins)

Written By: Chris Nosek  |  Follow Me On Twitter: @cnosek6342

On Saturday, November 10th the Boston Bruins announced that they are calling up 21-year-old goaltender Dan Vladar from Providence. A goaltender call-up was fully expected after the news of Tuukka Rask being granted a leave of absence for what the team is calling “a personal matter.”

With the timetable of only “the next few days,” the call-up of Vladar makes a lot more sense than bringing up 26-year-old Zane McIntyre. If the call had been for McIntyre, the Bruins would have to submit him to waivers upon Tuukka’s return to get back to Providence. Although he cleared the waiver process earlier this season, there is no guarantee he would make it through the second time. If the timetable for the return of the 2013 Vezina winner turns into a long-term need, then it would make more sense to swap the two prospect goaltenders so that Vladar can get the starting minutes that will prove crucial in his development.

Vladar got the start in yesterdays game for the Baby Bruins as they started a series of 3 games in 3 days with a 2-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The 21-year-old posted 27 saves while recording the team’s 4th victory of the season. Providence currently sits in 8th place in the Atlantic Division with 9 points. Providence has 4 wins on the season with McIntyre and Vladar each posting 2 victories. Vladar has posted the better goals-against average (2.52 to McIntyre’s 3.86) and the better save percentage (.909 vs. McIntyre’s .826).

 (Photo Credit: Gregory Vasil)

The P-Bruins have a game tonight in Bridgeport and another tomorrow at home against the same Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. McIntyre will start both of these games while Vladar will back up 33-year old veteran Jaroslav Halak as the big club takes on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight and the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night.

The promotion of Vladar has sent a ripple effect down the organization as it left the Baby Bruins with only 26-year-old Zane McIntyre to play goal during their current stretch of three games in three days. They have since called up another goaltender from the Atlanta Gladiators; Sean Bonar.

While Bruins brass and Tuukka’s teammates have been sticking to what seems to be a short-term timetable it appears the former 75th overall draft pick from 2015 will only spend the weekend with the big club. However, with 8 games over the next 14 days including 3 sets of back-to-backs AND a 4-game road trip with stops in Colorado, Dallas, Arizona, and Detroit one thing remains certain; Bruce Cassidy is going to need a goaltender not named Jaroslav Halak to play a game at some point in the next two weeks.

If Vladar gets forced into action because Tuukka takes more time than originally thought, the likely start that the top goaltending prospect will get would be in Arizona on November 17th. Should he see an NHL game or two, Vladar will have a chance show how his development is coming along and will be able to start giving Sweeney an idea of how he will want things to play out all of his goaltenders hit free agency over the next three seasons.

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