Boston Bruins: Time to say goodbye to Anton Khudobin
By Sam Minton
It appears that the Boston Bruins will not be bringing back stud backup goaltender Anton Khudobin next season.
Anton Khudobin had a great season last year, he was a dominant backup who carried the Boston Bruins to some key victories. Sadly it appears that the goaltender will not be coming back to Boston.
Don Sweeney spoke to the media at Boston Bruins developmental camp on Friday and it seems like Khudobin and the Bruins were unable to strike a deal.
Sweeney on the teams’s UFAs: “Kept in contact with all of them. Looks like the [backup] goaltending [situation] is going in a different direction.”
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 29, 2018
This is a big deal. The Bruins don’t have a bunch of goaltending talent. Right now it would appear that Zane McIntyre would be the backup and he isn’t anything special. Last season in the AHL he was 26-15-2 with a .914 save percentage and a 2.52 goals against average.
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Khudobin had an amazing season. Well at least for a backup. Khudobin had a record of 16-6-7. He was on a tear early on with a 9 game points streak that included a 4 game winning streak.
In his most important stretch, “Dobby” became the starter while the Bruins gave Tuukka Rask an extended stay on the bench. Without Khudobin you may not have been able to do that.
This was the first season that Rask played in less than 60 games since the 2013-2014 season. Rask was well rested for the playoffs, and after his mini-break he came back better than ever.
It looks like Rask will have to step up his play as the Bruins will most likely be pretty weak at the position. There will be no breaks next season.
There are not a lot of great backup goaltenders out there on the market so it will be really interesting to see what the Bruins do.
Next: Why James van Riemsdyk is a good backup plan
Anton Khudobin will be missed greatly. Hopefully, the Boston Bruins will make the right decision when they bring in his replacement.