The Bruins are looking at some roster changes headed into the offseason, and backup goaltender is one of the spots where there will be some turnover.
That’s because last season’s backup netminder, Niklas Svedberg, has signed a one-year deal with Salavat Yulaev Ufa to play in the KHL next season, and gain some experience as a starting goaltender rather than a backup in the NHL. The 25-year-old Swedish netminder played in 18 games for the Bruins in his first full NHL season backing up Tuukka Rask, but started only five games for the Black and Gold after January 1 as he seemed to lose confidence with sporadic playing time.
The final numbers were pretty good for Svedberg, with a 7-5-1, with a 2.33 GAA and a .918 save percentage in those 18 appearances, but Roy said his client wants to return to the NHL as starting material rather than the backup band.
“He signed for one year. The ultimate goal is to go back to the NHL and be a starter,” said Svedberg's agent Allain Roy. “It was just going to be tough in Boston with Tuukka playing all the games. It was hard to get games there. He just figured going to Russia and playing 50 games this season [was better for him], and let’s face it: the money in the KHL is better than getting backup money in the NHL.”
“So he’ll just do [the KHL] for a year, come back and hopefully be a starter somewhere. He’s been a starter for the last five-plus years and been kind of the “go to” guy. Even in the American League he played a lot of games there too. But you can’t blame the Bruins. They’ve got a great goalie there in Tuukka, and he obviously likes to play.”
Svedberg will be free to sign with any NHL team when he does return after his stint in Russia as he qualifies as an unrestricted Group 6 free agent based on his age, his pro hockey experience and having played less than 28 NHL games in his career.
With Svedberg out of the picture for the Bruins, it would seem almost automatic that the B's will go out and get a cheap, veteran backup netminder capable of handling the job behind a workhorse like Rask. Malcolm Subban and Jeremy Smith are the two in-house candidates that finished up the year in Providence, and the 21-year-old Subban made some strides in his second full pro season.
But P-Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy ended the AHL season with the sense that Subban still had development left in his goaltending game before he was ready for Boston, and his one disastrous NHL outing vs. St. Louis mid-season seemed to confirm that.
“It always depends on who they’re pushing, and who is there on the [NHL] roster. I don’t think anybody knows. But is Subban ready to push for the backup job?" asked Cassidy rhetorically. "I think that would entirely depend on his training camp. He had a good year and he got better, but there are still a few things that he’s got to address."