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Haggerty: ‘Bright Future’ With Bruins Goalies Raises Questions | BHN+

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The Boston Bruins have gleaned a glimpse of their future goaltending picture over the last few weeks and it’s blindingly bright.

The Bruins currently have arguably the best goalie duo in the NHL with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak when healthy and 100 percent functional, and it’s been that way for the last three seasons. But now the B’s have spied a look at each of their top two goalie prospects as injuries and COVID Protocol have crept into the picture, and the Black and Gold puck-stopping future looks totally secure with 23-year-old Daniel Vladar and 22-year-old Jeremy Swayman.

“It’s great to see. I think it’s the most important position in hockey,” said Patrice Bergeron. “We’ve been fortunate in my time here that we’ve had some amazing goalies. It seems like the future is bright.”

Vladar has posted a 2.25 goals against average and .922 save percentage while taking five of a possible eight points in his four NHL starts for the Bruins since Tuukka Rask went on the shelf with a suspected bad back. He’s the new prototype for NHL goalies as a massive 6-foot-5 netminder that fills up the crease, has good athleticism between the posts and checks all the boxes for what scouts look for in goaltending prospects these days.

Swayman became just the second Boston Bruins rookie goalie in franchise history to stop 40 plus shots in his NHL debut when he made 40 saves exactly in Tuesday night’s 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. He showed the requisite athleticism and technique for an NHL goaltender, of course, but was in the special category when it came to tracking pucks and exhibiting unusual poise in a second period where the Flyers poured a ridiculous 25 shots on the Boston net.

The 22-year-old kid was refreshingly modest about it all afterward, but it was clear throughout that the moment wasn’t even close to too big for him.

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