Free agent decisions for your own players are never easy. Ever. There will be decisions that are correct, and then there will be incorrect decisions. It's the nature of the business and how things fall.
That is the case with every NHL general manager, just not Boston Bruins leader Don Sweeney. He has arguably got more right than wrong. Depends on who you talk to. Last summer, he had to make some decisions with his younger goalies.
When everything was said and done, Sweeney brought back Michael DiPietro and let former undrafted free agent Brandon Bussi walk. Little did anyone know what was about to come. After signing with the Florida Panthers, he was placed on waivers and signed by the Carolina Hurricanes. That has worked well for both Bussi and coach Rod Brind'Amour.
After beating the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1, on Monday afternoon, the former Western Michigan standout is18-3-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average, .906 save percentage, and one shutout. He also robbed Buffalo's Tage Thompson with an incredible save on Monday. All of his work this season to date has asked the question of whether or not he could be considered for a huge NHL postseason award. One NHL writer thinks he'll at least be in the conversation.
NHL writer believes former Bruins prospect could be in conversation for Vezina Trophy
Dan Rosen of NHL.com believes that the former Black and Gold prospect will generate some Vezina Trophy consideration if things continue on the path they are currently going.
"Too soon to say, but if you go strictly by results and not name recognition, then the Carolina Hurricanes goalie is closing in on warranting that consideration,'' wrote Rosen. "The telling stat is that Bussi is second in the NHL in high danger save percentage (.870), according to NHL EDGE, behind Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders (.875). It helps Bussi that the Hurricanes are the best shot suppression team in the NHL, but then he makes a save like he did on Tage Thompson in Carolina's 2-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.''
Look, is he going to win the award? Probably not. However, it's hard to ignore the start to the NHL he has had. Is he going to be out, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and the other top goalies? No, but being mentioned with them is enough to wonder what could have been if the Bruins held onto him. It's good to see Bussi have a lot of NHL success, and now the question is, will he be able to continue it with Carolina? Time will tell.