Boston Bruins: Anton Khudobin Signing Shows Lack Of Confidence
Boston Bruins: Anton Khudobin Signing Shows Lack Of Confidence In Goaltending Prospects
July 1 was a busy day in the NHL with regard to signings. From Loui Eriksson heading to Vancouver, to David Backes signing in Boston, it was a very busy day for insiders and fans alike.
Luckily enough, the Boston Bruins were very active and involved in all of the fireworks. One signing that wasn’t very newsworthy was bringing back goaltender Anton Khudobin, who was with the B’s in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Since leaving the B’s, Khudobin spent two solid years in Carolina with the Hurricanes and then this past season with the Anaheim Ducks.
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Out of all of the moves that the Bruins have made thus far, this signing could be the most revealing.
Personally, I thought that going into this season, the Bruins would use one of their three highly-touted goaltending prospects — Malcolm Subban, Zane McIntyre, and Jeremy Smith — as a backup to Tuukka Rask. But with the signing of Khudobin for two years, doesn’t that mean that he would most likely be the backup to Rask?
Khudobin has a career .918 save percentage and a career 2.42 goals against average. He deserves to be one of two goalies on any team he plays for and unless the Bruins are going to sign-and-trade him, it looks as if Dobby has the backup position on lock.
Ultimately, this leads me to believe that the Bruins don’t believe in Subban, McIntyre, or Smith. Subban’s the only one of that trio with any NHL experience, and that was back in 2014-15 when he started against the St. Louis Blue and let in 3 goals and was pulled almost immediately.
Out of the three, Smith or Subban were likely to come in as the backup, but now, that may not happen this year or even next year. Smith is 27 while Subban is 22; unless Smith becomes the next Tim Thomas, now is the time in which the Bruins should be trying him out in the NHL. After achieving a GAA of 2.02 and a save-percentage of .934 down in Providence, Smith definitely deserves a shot.
The Bruins led us to believe that either Smith or Subban were next in line, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The Bruins don’t desperately need Smith or Subban to perform well; but the better they perform, the more they’ll get in-return if traded.
This leads me to my next point.
Aside from the Bruins possibly not believing in Smith or Subban, they may have gotten Khudobin so that they can trade one, or both, of them. Khudobin would be the backup for two years and then McIntyre would take over behind Rask after Khudobin’s contract was up.
Next: Bruins Sign Anton Khudobin
Subban would probably yield the most in-return since he’s a first-round pick and much younger than Smith. The bottom line is that by signing Khudobin, it may show how the Bruins have completely given up on their “highly-coveted” young goalies down in Providence.