Bruins Add New Backup Goalie As Jeremy Swayman Drama Continues

The whole situation between the Boston Bruins and the guy they thought would be their No. 1 goalie this season, Jeremy Swayman, is very much in flux, and in a new sign of the uncertainty surrounding whether or not they can cut a deal with the 24-year-old netminder, the B's have signed a new backup goalie.

That could mean absolutely nothing or it could mean a lot.

The Bruins have claimed goalie Jiri Patera off of waivers from the Vancouver Canucks, and the expectation is that he'll be a potential option to backup defacto starter Joonas Korpisalo.

Head coach Jim Montgomery recently said that the plan is to have Korpisalo — who came to Boston as part of the trade that sent former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators — start in the team's regular-season opener at home against the Florida Panthers on October 8.

Patera spent most of last season with the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights, per Bleacher Report, but did make appearances in half a dozen games for the Vegas Golden Knights last year, starting five, and posting a 1-3-1 record.

With continued drama surrounding a new deal for starter Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins are playing it safe and have brought in another backup netminder in Jiri Patera. (Getty Images)

This move comes as the Swayman situation got infinitely trickier on Monday when Bruins team president Cam Neely told the media that there were "64 million reasons" why Swayman should be playing right now. However, Swayman's camp quickly put out a statement denying that any kind of $64 million deal had been made.

So, yeah, that certainly didn't help the negotiation process.

But even if the two sides did come to terms on a deal before the start of the season, it'd be reasonable to assume that Swayman may need a bit of time to be ready to jump in as the team's starter and so the signing of Patera helps fill out the team's depth chart and gives some insurance in the short team until a deal with Swayman can be reached.

That is unless he asks for a trade, in which case… well, then it was probably smart to snag another netminder off of waivers.