Breaking Down the Battle for the Boston Bruins Backup Goaltending Position

Niklas Svedberg still makes the most sense as the Boston Bruins’ go-to backup goaltender for the 2014-15 season. Although his preseason has been anything but stellar, most of his setbacks have been forgivable enough.

Furthermore, age, experience and familiarity with the system all combine to give him the edge over Jeremy Smith and Malcolm Subban. He has spent two full AHL seasons in Providence and is the only candidate for the opening who has played a regular-season NHL game.

However, the notion of three or four different masked men scraping Boston’s blue paint over the course of the regular season still holds merit. With five of seven exhibition tilts in the books, all three of Tuukka Rask’s aspiring apprentices have logged outstanding highlights and lowlights.

For that reason, more than anything, there is no cause to deviate from the long-presumptive plan to elevate Svedberg from Providence. There is, however, enough reason to monitor the entire trio long after the final cuts take effect.

If trends in the Claude Julien era are any indication, Rask will stop short of breaking the 60-game plateau in 2014-15. He put in 58 appearances last season while predecessor Tim Thomas’ busiest campaigns under Julien featured 57 in both 2007-08 and 2010-11, followed by 59 in 2011-12.

That figures to leave more than a quarter of the schedule for the rest of the goalie guild to take up. Odds are the Bruins will not be giving Svedberg the nod for all 23, 24 or 25 of Rask’s off nights.

Svedberg took a pay cut over the summer to push off restricted free agency for another year. Per CapGeek, his NHL salary imposed an $858,750 cap hit in his first two North American professional seasons.

Conversely, he will rake in and take up only $600,000 in 2014-15.

As he garners more seasoning over the next year, though, he will all but certainly command seven figures come July 2015. The team will still be dealing with ongoing financial congestion given that it currently has 11 spots filled yet only $14,756,190 in projected space for 2015-16.

With those prospective variables, the Bruins may not be able to afford Svedberg’s services beyond his current contract.

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In preparation for that potentiality, they will only serve their best interest if they periodically work in Subban or Smith during the 2014-15 regular season.

Smith will be an RFA himself next summer but has only a $550,000 cap hit on his one-year deal. Subban will continue to cost $863,333 in payroll space through 2016-17.

So who gets the bulk, if not all of the remaining one-third of the workload that Rask and Svedberg leave open?

Smith, the only non-homegrown specimen in the stable, may have an outside shot. That is if he turns in more performances that resemble the previous calendar week more than the current calendar week. 

Upon repelling 12 out of 12 third-period stabs from the Washington Capitals, Smith shared a shutout with Rask last Wednesday. He garnered credit for the 2-0 victory when his skating mates buried both goals within the final six minutes.

Out of that dazzling dozen of answers, Smith made one game-changing save that Boston.com scribe Jeff Pini described as follows:

"

With the game still tied 0-0 and approaching the midway point of the third, and the Bruins unable to get out of their own end, Mike Green skated up the left side and fed Andre Burakovsky across the ice. Burakovsky looked primed to snap it in on a one-timer, but Smith adjusted and made a huge glove save to rob Burakovsky and keep the game scoreless.

"

Smith similarly finished what Rask started with a pristine 20-minute outing in Detroit last Saturday, halting all eight tests. But this week (i.e. the fresher portion of his preseason sample size) laced vinegar in lieu of icing on the confection.

Upon inheriting a 1-1 tie from Svedberg at 11:14 of the second period, Smith let in a troika of trapper-beaters. Those goals from Kyle Okposo, Cory Conacher and Cal Clutterbuck sculpted a 3-1 Islanders lead and then a 4-3 edge en route to a 5-3 final.

Coincidence or not, the Bruins announced Wednesday afternoon via their website that Smith is among the latest round of cuts. The first goaltender to receive a demotion, he will need to clear waivers before officially joining Providence, as the press release explains.

This despite a cumulative three-game bushel of 35 saves on 38 shots on net, which would translate to a .921 save percentage. The move suggests that Boston is starting its season with priority to the three netminders with meaningful extramural experience in their system.

With that being said, Subban still needs to do more before he finalizes the formality of securing his third-string slot. He has not faced any tests from an opposing strike force since splitting the preseason opener in Montreal with Svedberg.

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With two scrimmages still to come and one internal competitor out of the equation, he should be afforded at least another half-hour of auditioning action. But however much he garners against the Islanders on Friday or Detroit on Saturday will, at the very least, carry hidden long-term weight.

Just because the 21-year-old Subban outlasted Smith at the big club’s camp does not guarantee he will be the team’s first regular-season call-up in his position. If the 25-year-old Smith clears waivers, he will constitute the more professionally seasoned half of the Providence tandem.

This means that plays and statistics, excellent or egregious, shall take a backseat to the pointers Subban retains if and when he returns to the AHL. He will need to apply those takeaways to preserve his presumptive upper hand on Smith, not to mention bring his first-round draft pick status closer to fruition.

Svedberg is seemingly subject to a similar approach as the Bruins baptize him by fire for the regular backup vacancy. He has played roughly the equivalent of two full games so far this preseason, allowing eight goals on 55 opposing shots.

But those numbers stick with as much authority as a snowflake on 50-degree pavement. A multitude of screens and slappers, including two homeward-bound howitzers by Alexander Ovechkin, have ensured that Svedberg’s quizzes have not held back.

Ahead of next week’s regular-season opener, that is the best the Bruins can do to build on the Swedish stopper’s one-game resume.

Lessons must translate to mutual confidence between Svedberg and his skating mates the same way. He will be pursuing an encore of 2013-14, when Chad Johnson mustered surprisingly sparkling stats (17-4-3 record, .925 save percentage, 2.10 goals-against average).

But while that is the best-case scenario for the coming campaign, it will not alleviate the long-term uncertainty of the Rask apprenticeship. At best, it will merely modify the makeup of the uncertainty.

For that reason, it is on the likes of Subban (and maybe Smith) to ensure that occasional call-ups have the look of a purpose beyond giving Boston’s regulars a breather in a throwaway match. Someone from within the pipeline needs to be the insurance policy in the event Svedberg takes the Anton Khudobin route to thicker ice after this season.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics for this report were found via Bruins.NHL.com