If you asked the average NHL fan who the most valuable player was on the Boston Bruins, the most probable answer would be Patrice Bergeron. Then there’d be those who say David Pastrnak or Tuukka Rask. A few might still go with Zdeno Chara and because of his potential, a select few may exclaim Charlie McAvoy.<\/p>\n
Not many would opt for Jaroslav Halak.<\/p>\n
While most NHL teams can’t claim their backup goalie as one of their most valuable players, the Bruins can. Granted, some teams can relate to this more than ever before due to a shift in viewing the role of the starting goalie position. But, even with that, there still aren’t many clubs with that case.<\/p>\n
Which makes it a bit odd to say Halak isn’t just one of general manager Don Sweeney’s best signings — he’s easily one of the most valuable players on the Bruins.<\/p>\n
The value of Halak comes in many forms. For one, his contract is more than palatable. The extension announced Friday — one year, $2.25 million — is another prime example of Sweeney re-signing his guys to hometown discounts. It’s a clear win-win for both sides.<\/p>\n
“It was a long process in terms of finding some common ground,” Sweeney said to the media Saturday morning. “You can see that Jaro and Allan Walsh worked hard with us to be a little creative and to allow us some flexibility.”<\/p>\n
Halak’s first contract with the Bruins barely raised any eyebrows. Back in the offseason of 2018, the B’s knew then-backup goalie Anton Khudobin was due for a significant bump in pay. He was only bringing in $1.2 million per season and after his 2017-18 campaign, the lovable netminder was a free agent. The Dallas Stars scooped him up at a cap hit of $2.5 million per year.<\/p>\n
Khudobin played well behind Tuukka Rask, starting 29 games and winning 16 in 2017-18. The Bruins wanted to continue the trend of a capable backup, which is why they opted to give a two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.75 million to former starter Halak.<\/p>\n
That’s around when the organization started to favor the two-goalie tandem.<\/p>\n
“We’ve done a lot of internal studies, as well as outside ones, to try and figure out a balance,” Sweeney said Saturday. “What works best for each individual? We’ve been in a position now where Rask in the last couple of years has been well-rested, has been able to go on runs, but we’ve leaned on the backup goaltender much more regularly in the last few years. Anton Khudobin did a very good job in that regard as well.”<\/p>\n