The Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman have finally reached an agreement on a deal for eight years and $66 million. Getting a deal done before the regular season starts and before 5 p.m. on Monday afternoon was necessary for both sides.
Now that a deal is done, it's time to turn the focus fully to the 2024-25 season, which begins in South Florida Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers, who will be raising their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters. Fun times against the team that has eliminated them from the last two postseasons.
Aside from the excitement of Swayman being between the pipes for at least the next eight years for the Black and Gold, there are going to be some tough decisions to be made for the GM Don Sweeney, and the front office, mainly with how their backup goaltending situation will play out.
Bruins goalie Brandon Bussi must clear waivers to get to Providence
Now that Swayman is signed, the Bruins are going to be faced with a huge decision in regards to their backup goalie situation. Joonas Korpisalo, acquired in the Linus Ullmark trade with the Ottawa Senators back in June, is expected to be the starter Tuesday night against the Panthers. It's unlikely that Swayman will be the backup (but who knows at this point) and it's likely going to be Brandon Bussi.
The problem facing the Bruins when Swayman is ready to play on a full-time basis, is what do they do with Bussi? In order for the former Western Michigan netminder to get to the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL), he is going to have to clear waivers, something this is not guaranteed to happen.
In his first couple of seasons in the AHL for the P-Bruins, Bussi has been very good and has been an All-Star. I know, it's the AHL, but still, he has been good and it has not gone unnoticed around the league I can assure you backup goalies in the league are sometimes hard to come by and we all know just how much Sweeney loves to stock up on them.
If Bussi is placed on waivers, then that would leave Korpisalo as the backup, and then who? Michael DiPietro or the newly-acquired Jiri Patera? The options are not going to excite the Bruins and their fans should one need to be called up and pressed into action because of an injury. It is certainly something to monitor over the next few days and weeks.