It is shocking that the Bruins and Jaroslav Halak got a deal done right now, but at the same time it makes far too much sense.
Halak was set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, but avoided hitting the open market by signing a one-year contract extension Friday to stay in Boston. He’ll carry a $2.25 million cap hit next season, less than the $2.75 million annually he had on the books during his first two season with the Bruins.
For Boston, it locks up needed security for next season.
Tuukka Rask has been playing some of the best hockey of his career this season and last, and even he will tell you Halak deserves plenty of credit for the success. Bruce Cassidy has been able to deploy the two goalies fairly evenly, which has allowed Rask to stay plenty refreshed during the regular season — something that paid dividends during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Bruins don’t exactly have a dearth of goalie prospects, but they are lacking in NHL-ready netminders. Dan Vladar took a big step forward this past season in the AHL, but he’s yet to skate in an NHL game. He’ll also be a restricted free agent this summer. Boston has promising prospects in Kyle Keyser in Jeremy Swayman, but Keyser had a bumpy first pro season while Swayman signed his entry-level contract in March.
The one goalie the Bruins do have outside of Halak and Rask that has NHL experience is Maxime Lagace. And though he played at a high level in Providence this season, he has a woeful .868 save percentage in 17 NHL games. He’s also going to be a UFA this offseason.
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In a way, the Bruins almost handcuffed themselves. For as long as Rask is playing in Boston, having an adept backup play a near equal amount to the starter in the regular season is going to be almost imperative. That started with the return of Anton Khudobin a few years ago, and continued with the signing of Halak in the summer of 2018. Because of that, the Bruins rolling the dice with someone unproven at the NHL level wouldn’t be pragmatic.
For Halak himself, the deal comes with plenty of security in its own right.
Nobody knows what the rest of this season will look like, never mind the upcoming offseason or 2020-21 campaign. Even though he’s taking a pay cut, it’s a relatively modest one that will still give him financial stability in an unpredictable time. He’s going to turn 35-years-old later this month, and there’s a legitimate chance the salary cap will be lower next season than originally expected. That’s not a great combination for a player that’s about to hit free agency.
By cashing in now, he assures he’ll have a place to play next season while remaining in a situation that has been good for him the last two years.
It is interesting though how this all played out. Teams that have had success in recent years, more often than not they’ve boasted a solid goaltending tandem in which both goalies could be trusted in most any situation. If the 2019-20 season went off as planned and Halak hit the open market this summer, he probably could’ve gotten north of $3 million a year if more teams started pivoting to the approach the Bruins and Dallas Stars, among others, have taken.
But, of course, this season did not go off as planned, and everything right now is uncertain — in hockey and otherwise. But at some point there will be hockey again, and it sure feels like both sides made a mutually beneficial decision amid all the unpredictability.
