By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
While the Boston Bruins reported for the first day of training camp in Brighton on Wednesday, Jeremey Swayman did not. The restricted free agent has yet to be signed, and the ongoing saga clouding the goaltender’s future with the Bruins overshadowed what is usually a jubilant day for the organization. Hockey is back in the Bay State, but it’s without their franchise netminder—at least for the time being.
“As I said, I’m disappointed, but at the end of the day, I’m optimistic because I think we’ll find a landing spot before December 1st,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told reporters in an opening statement on Swayman’s contract negotiations.
Despite conflicting reports circulating the airwaves into Wednesday morning, Sweeney clarified to the media that any report stating the contract was a “done deal” is “100 percent inaccurate.” After both sides declined to resort to arbitration over the summer, the Bruins and Swayman have ultimately been unable to put pen to paper on a contract to keep Boston’s top keeper a Bruin for the foreseeable future. Sweeney told reporters at the end-of-season press conference in May that the priority would be to find common ground this summer after unsuccessful attempts at coming to an agreement throughout the 2023-24 season.
But here we are, positioned at the crossroads between the end of summer and the commencement of hockey season without a deal in place. Swayman has until Dec. 1 to sign a deal, or he will not be eligible to suit up this season. The 25-year-old is unable to reach unrestricted free agency until he is eligible in 2026.
This quandary poses the ultimate question: If Swayman isn’t signed ahead of Boston’s season opener with the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, Oct. 8, what will Boston’s goalie room look like? Joonas Korpisalo, a remnant of the Linus Ullmark trade, and Brandon Bussi, a blue-chip prospect who has been marinating in Boston’s farm system, would step up to the plate. Jim Montgomery has no choice but to prepare for a scenario where Swayman isn’t occupying the Boston crease come October.
“We always control what we can control…it’s next man up,” he said on Wednesday.
Montgomery said he isn’t worried the situation would bother the locker room and that their focus is fully set on training camp.
“Right now we’re focused on training camp and getting ready for game one in Florida and the process,” said the bench boss. “We got a lot of day-to-day things that we got to focus on right now and how we’re going to get better.”
But for the goalies who have reported for camp—Korpisalo, Bussi, Ryan Bischel, Michael DiPietro, and Nolan Maier, a full-fledged competition is likely to emerge in case an emergency presents itself. As of right now, it looks like Korpisalo—with nine seasons in some capacity of NHL experience under his belt, and Bussi—who has impressed in Providence—are the frontrunners in that scenario. When (or if) Swayman is signed, Korpisalo is likely to remain in Boston as a backup since the Bruins inherited $3 million of his contract to their salary cap.
Montgomery said he was “very much” confident in goalie coach Bob Essensa to nurse whatever goalie could be thrown into the mix.
“You look at 22 years of goalie Bob’s history here, it’s pretty special,” said Montgomery. “He does great work in getting our goaltenders ready no matter who they are.”
For Korpisalo, the 30-year-old has shown brief stints of elite goaltending since breaking into the league in 2015. However, his numbers last season were far from flattering. In 55 games with the pitiful Ottawa Senators, his .890 save percentage ranked him last in a pool of 20 goalies who made at least 50 appearances that season. His 3.27 goals against average? Also, last.
Korpisalo’s most positive stretch of playing between the iron, albeit it was a microscopic sample size, came in the 2022-23 season as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. In 11 games, he posted a 2.13 GAA and .921 SV%. Not too shabby. Can “Goalie Bob” mix the right ingredients to get that brand of hockey out of Korpisalo? We’ll find out—because even if the Bruins ink Swayman, Korpisalo will likely receive a piece of the workload throughout the season.
That, of course, is unless Bussi knocks it out of the park over the next few weeks. The Western Michigan University product was recently signed to a one-year, two-way extension in June. In 41 games down in Providence last season, Bussi impressed in a goalie tandem with DiPietro. He compiled a 23-10-5 record with a 2.67 GAA and a .913 SV%, while his overall record of 48-17-9 boasts slightly better numbers at a 2.55 GAA and .918 SV%.
“He has the ability to make big-time saves,” said Montgomery. “We’ve seen that in Providence and we saw that here last year in that first exhibition game and that incredible save he made. But also it’s his second and third effort. We talk about Bruins having that and that’s something that he has in the crease.”
Montgomery is referring to the highlight reel denial that went viral in a 2023 preseason game with the New York Rangers, sprawling across the blue paint to make a jaw-dropping glove save. This sort of save isn’t out of the ordinary for Bussi, who has been all over the highlight tape throughout his time with Boston’s affiliate club. At 6-foot-5, this type of athleticism is impressive for his stature.
Last week at Rookie Camp, Providence head coach Ryan Mougenel commended Bussi for staying with the process while the goalie situation in Boston was fairly set in stone. And like Montgomery, he acknowledged his compete level.
“He’s gotten better every year,” said Mougenel. “I just saw him today and he looks fantastic from a body standpoint. He’s slimmed down, and he’s another guy who looks like he’s put in the weights. It is a hard message to give to players, to be patient. Your time is going to come and you want guys to be ready.”
Will any of this matter come opening night? That remains to be seen. By avoiding arbitration and Swayman’s decision to not request a trade from Boston, the writing is on the wall for both sides to hammer out an agreement before the Dec. 1 deadline. But there very well could be a stretch of hockey games where the Bruins are forced to roll with what they have if that doesn’t get done over the next few weeks. And if that is the case, Boston will simply have no choice but to make do.
Leave a Reply