Boston Bruins Sign Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson
It appears that the Boston Bruins have picked this seasons’ number two goaltender. Just a few minutes ago, Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced that the club has signed Jonas Gustavsson to a one-year, one-way contract. The cap hit will be a modest $700,000.
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It was a neck-and-neck race for the number two job in Boston. Both Gustavsson and Jeremy Smith had decent performances for the Black and Gold during the preseason. While Smith had the early lead, his performance against the Washington Capitals may have tilted the scales in favor of Gustavsson. It looks like the Bruins organization decided to go for a player that had NHL experience behind him.
Gustavsson put in three years with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. After that, Gustavsson played for the Detroit Red Wings from 2012 to 2015. In his 43 appearances, he put up a 21-10-6 record. Overall, the 30-year-old Swedish netminder has 148 NHL games under his belt. (60-55-21, 2.89 goals against average, .901 save percentage.)
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So, what does this mean for Jeremy Smith? Smith could be packaged with other players (like Alexander Khokhlachev OR put Smith back in Providence and add Malcolm Subban as potential trade bait) as part of a trade to find themselves a top-four defenseman. With Dennis Seidenberg out for all of October and Zdeno Chara still questionable, this seems likely. The Bruins depth in defense is their Achilles’ heel right now, and this could be a great way to shore that blueline up.
There is another possibility, but it seems far more unlikely. The Boston Bruins need to have their roster finalized by Tuesday at 5:00 PM. The B’s will need to have it finalized down to the twenty-three players for opening night. The talk in town says the B’s will field 13 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders. There is a possibility (although slim), that the Bruins field only seven defensemen for opening night and three goaltenders.