NHL Network: The panel talks about the Boston Bruins goaltending situation and what they might consider this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Jamieson Coyle: “Boston Bruins signing goaltender Brandon Bussi to a one-year contract. You can see his numbers with what he did with the Providence Bruins. (22-5-4-1, 2.40 GAA and a .924 save %).
Is this just standard house keeping for depth in the organization or is this a bigger indication on something that may be happening between the tandem, the loved tandem, that was Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
NHL Rumors: Travis Hamonic, Yegor Sharangovich, and Hypothetical trades,
Kevin Weekes: “So my buddy coaches him down in Providence and they’ve been raving about him. He was an AHL all-star last year. He’s a big south paw. So, some people say he kind of reminds them of Logan Thompson in Vegas. I’m a big fan of. Who was an all-star this year.
All of that to say, yes, this is a little bit of house keeping and it’s also, ‘well, hmmm, we’re getting a lot of offers. There’s a lot of interest in either one of our goalies, of course in Swayman and also Linus Ullmark. So, who do we decide to move? And should we decide to move on from one of them?’
Host: “Do you have to move one of them?”
Weekes: “We don’t have to but here’s the, I love that you asked the question, and there’s that love affair between those two (showing clip of Ullmark and Swayman hugging)
Coyle: “The best regular season in NHL history.”
Weekes: “Correct.”
Coyle: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Weekes: “And that’s exactly why everybody on the crossways still sour and they haven’t been able to heal from it yet.”
Tony Granato: “But at some point, you keep those two guys and Swayman’s up for contract. So what do you pay him? Does he get the same as Ullmark or not?
So at some point, it puts the coach, (Jim) Montgomery in a tough position. Which one am I going to play?
So I think you’re better off have a ‘One’ and then, so I think moving one of those guys is the play. And like you said, if the other guy is ready to come up and potentially play 15 to 20 games next year or 30 games. You still got a great tandem.
And if you look at how Vegas won this year and you look at Carolina and some of the other teams in the playoffs, you don’t need one goalie. You need multiple goalies. And I think that’s something new. Is the fact that you can’t rely on ‘hey, I got a starter. I got Marty Brodeur, he’s going to play 78 games this year and is he gonna, you know, play whatever we play in the playoffs. You have to have depth at the goaltending position.
So, I think with Boston, with what they have to sign on all their free agents, they’re going to have to make some moves to free up some space and potentially I think one of those goalies will be moved.”
NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, and the Philadelphia Flyers
Weekes: “Ya, and somebody’s going to get a quality goalie.”
Granato: “Again, the goalies are moving all over the place. We’re predicting goalies all over the place.