Boston Bruins: Dan Vladar showing that the future is in safe hands

Dan Vladar notched a third shut-out of the season for the Boston Bruins’ minor-league affiliate, the Providence Bruins this weekend and is proving dominant in the AHL.

While it’s always hard to tell whether American Hockey league performances are a true indicator of a goalie’s ability in the NHL, Dan Vladar is certainly staking his claim to a future role between the pipes with the Boston Bruins.

Leading the AHL with a 0.936 save percentage and an impressive 1.79 goals-against-average, the 22 year-old Dan Vladar is making an impression.

With the Boston Bruins not yet having renewed Jaroslav Halak, there is definitely an oppurtunity for Dan Vladar to stake a claim for next year’s back-up role behind Tuukka Rask.

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However, conventional wisdom would suggest trying to renew Halak for a couple more seasons at a reasonable cost and allowing Dan Vladar another season or two dominating the AHL before pushing him to the main roster.

It’s actually quite a nice predicament for the Boston Bruins to have; knowing that they may well have a long-term replacement for Tuukka Rask already in their system. Rask’s two years in Providence never saw goaltending stats as good as Vladar, so if that’s anything to go by, we have quite the player on our hands potentially.

Going forward, the Boston Bruins certainly have some strength between the pipes with Dan Vladar leading the way. Jeremy Swayman is looking impressive with the University of Maine this season while Kyle Keyser hasn’t seen much ice-time this year, but did impress in pre-season outings in Bruins colors.

The only reason to be wary about Dan Vladar is the fact that sometimes a top-calibre AHL goaltender doesn’t pan out in the NHL.

For every Matt Murray, Jake Allen or Ryan Miller that wins the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s best goaltender and goes on to become an NHL starter, there’s a Garret Sparks that dominates the AHL, but ends up an option for back-to-back match-ups and little more in Vegas.

Continuing this level of form will be key for Dan Vladar; prove his consistency to the Boston Bruins and maybe, just maybe he’s up with the NHL club next year. That all depends on whether someone offers Jaroslav Halak starter money to go elsewhere.

The future will eventually fall into safe hands; it’s just a matter of time before Vladar is playing in the big league.