The Bruins avoided disaster between the pipes with young goalie clearing waivers.
Sunday morning, the news Boston Bruins fans have been waiting to hear became reality. The club and goaltender Jeremy Swayman agreed on an eight-year contract to lock him up as the team's No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future.
With him back, the Bruins' front office and coaching staff had some big decisions to make in regard to their goaltenders. Knowing that most of their younger netminders need to clear waivers to get to the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL). On Sunday, the Black and Gold placed two of goalies on waivers, Brandon Bussi and newly acquired Jiri Patera. Monday, Boston got the best news possible.
Brandon Bussi clears waivers and returns to the Bruins
When Boston placed Bussi and several other players on waivers, it was for assignment to the AHL in Providence. If they lost Bussi, they would lose their third goalie behind Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo and if one of them went down with an injury, things would be rather sticky for Jim Montgomery.
Monday, they found out the Bussi cleared waivers and will remain with the Bruins for now. Patera, however, did not clear and was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks, the team who put him on waivers last week and Boston claimed him. It was not surprising to see Vancouver claim him back when they had the opportunity.
With Swayman missing all of training camp, Bussi, Korpisalo, and Michael DiPietro saw the action in the preseason games and DiPietro was very shaky at best. He allowed some weak goals and it wasn't surprising to see him being part of the first round of cuts a week ago. Bussi, however, had his moments and if Swayman or Korpisalo goes down with an injury early in the season, the Black and Gold have a dependable backup in the AHL they can bring up. Disaster has been avoided, for now.
