Boston Bruins Sign Anton Khudobin
Boston Bruins Sign Anton Khudobin to Two Year Contract
The Boston Bruins and Anton Khudobin are re-united after three seasons apart. Khudobin was the Bruins’ backup goaltender during the 2012-13 season before signing a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the 2013-14 season. In his career, Khudobin has posted a 92-44-39 record to go along with a .918 save percentage, a 2.42 goals against average, and 5 shutouts.
The deal will pay Khudobin $1.2 million per season for the next two seasons; a very affordable cap-hit for a reliable back-up who can help the Bruins provide Tuukka Rask with some much-needed rest.
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The Bruins were looking for a new backup goaltender after their experiment with Jonas Gustavsson went sour near the end of the year. Gustavsson was a solid addition to the Bruins for most of the year but as time went on, Claude Julien seemingly started to trust him less and less. The Bruins had seen this happen in the previous season with Niklas Svedberg.
A reliable backup goaltender is highly underrated, and there is a proven success rate for teams that run a solid tandem of goalies. The Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, and Tampa Bay Lightning, and St. Louis Blues showed that solid goaltending tandems can push a team to Stanley Cup finals contention.
With a proven track-record in Boston. Khudobin was a very sensible choice for the Bruins who now have the choice to use Malcolm Subban more conservatively. Forcing him into an NHL role would not be wise for the Bruins, who should let him develop at his own pace as the potential goalie of the future.
Next: Bruins Sign David Backes
The Bruins made a few other moves on July 1, as they also signed David Backes and re-signed John-Michael Liles to a contract extension. The Bruins also missed out on re-signing Loui Eriksson, who inked a six-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.