How could the Bruins divide playing time between Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo?

One of the biggest questions of the offseason for Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins was that of Linus Ullmark. Would he remain with the team for the final year of his contract or be traded to pave the way for Jeremy Swayman to take control of the net?

We got the answer Monday night, as the latter occurred. Ullmark was traded to a division rival in the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a package that included goalie Joonas Korpisalo, with the Senators retaining 25% of his salary. The Bruins are on the hook for roughly $3 million annually for the next four seasons of Korpisalo's contract, with a 10 team no trade list attached to it.

Now that Ullmark is gone, the net is certainly Swayman's to lose. He deserves it too, coming off an incredible season and due a massive payday this summer as a restricted free agent. With a new goalie tandem entering next season, how could Jim Montgomery split the time between the two?

How much playing time in net will the Bruins give to Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo?

While Swayman will certainly get the majority of the starts, giving him 60 games right out of the gates like the Winnipeg Jets do with Connor Hellebuyck and the Nashville Predators do with Juuse Saros seems rash. Swayman's career high in starts is 43, set this past season, so increasing his workload by roughly 20 games right away might do more harm than good.

The more reasonable number for Swayman is somewhere between 50 and 55 games. Giving him 55 games would equate to starting two out of every three games in the regular season, while 50 starts would fall at about 61 percent of the reps.

If Swayman does get 55 games, that leaves 27 for Korpisalo, assuming full health for both guys all season. Having served as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky and then Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus, that is a perfectly reasonable number for Korpisalo.

His numbers in Ottawa last season were awful, there's no sugarcoating it. While he didn't play well and neither did his partner Anton Forsberg, trotting Korpisalo out there for 49 starts and 55 total appearances certainly didn't help, as it blew his previous career highs in both departments out of the water.

Meanwhile, under less pressure in Boston and with more of a drawn back workload as Swayman's backup, Korpisalo is certainly in a better position to succeed. Also, goalie coach Bob Essensa's track record speaks for himself, giving Korpisalo an even better chance to turn his career around.

Assuming full health for both Swayman and Korpisalo, I think the most reasonable division of playing time by Jim Montgomery would be to give Swayman around 55 starts and to leave the rest to Korpisalo.

Raising Swayman's workload up to that of a clear-cut starter will make up for some of the wins lost by trading Ullmark, and giving Korpisalo a clear backup role with less pressure to succeed can get him back on track. If the Bruins want to put their goalies in the best position to succeed, this is the way to do it.