Insider Elliotte Friedman Suggests Boston Bruins' Jeremy Swayman may lose his starting role

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Tom Banks
November 23, 2024 (8:55 PM)

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Jeremy Swayman has struggled early in the season, and now after a coaching change was made, the team may look to make a change in net as well.

The Boston Bruins, despite being 9-9-3 through 21 games, a record that many teams would be happy with, are seemingly falling apart early in the year, with the team moving on from Jim Montgomery despite a successful three years in Boston.

After that firing, the team quickly moved to name assistant Joe Sacco as the new Interim Head Coach, and immediately upon him taking over the team, he made the shock call to name Joonas Korpisalo as the starter for his first game.

In that game, the team shutout the Utah Hockey Club 1-0, with the veteran netminder stopping all 21 shots, giving Sacco his first victory as coach of the Bruins.

Now, this has raised plenty of questions about the netminding situation in Boston this season, with Insider Elliotte Friedman suggesting that the team could look to Korpisalo as their No. 1 moving forward.

"I'm gonna be honest about this... when I saw the score my initial reaction was I wonder if Korpisalo gets a bit of run here. The Bruins are in a place where they have to win games."

This certainly isn't what anyone expected when Swayman finally inked an $8.25 million AAV deal this past summer, but with an .884 save percentage and a record of 5-7-2 this season, it's hard to look past these struggles.

"After seeing Korpisalo get the win I'm curious to see who is gonna be their starting goaltender on Saturday," said Friedman. "Does Korpisalo get a bit of a run?"

Given that Sacco has already made the tough choice of naming Korpisalo his starter in game one, and given how well he's performed all season, it's easy to see the team sticking with him.

For now, though, it's a very tough choice for Sacco, and if the team doesn't change the way they've played, there may be just more than this one hard decision to make.