Bruins Display Confidence In Goalies Amid Jeremy Swayman Absence

The Boston Bruins will return to the ice in an official capacity Thursday, and will do so with five goaltenders.

Joonas Korpisalo will be there. Brandon Bussi will be there. Michael DiPietro, Ryan Bischel and Nolan Maier will be there.

Jeremy Swayman will not.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney confirmed as much Wednesday, sharing the 25-year-old will not report to training camp until a new contract is finalized. Boston is still “optimistic” that a deal will get done, but until then will have to rely on the likes of Korpisalo and Bussi to hold down the fort — the former appearing to be on top of the current depth chart.

“(Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa and goaltender development coach) Mike Dunham did a great job of breaking down when Joonas was playing well as opposed to when he wasn’t,” Sweeney told reporters Wednesday, as seen on NESN. “Hopefully the structure that we’re going to provide in front of him will help him in some of those areas.

“A few years ago we did a study with Jaroslav Halak when he was coming in here, and some of the areas we felt would improve when he got here. Jaro did a good job, and we’re confident Joonas will get back to being the goaltender he was in LA.”

Korpisalo was acquired in the package that sent Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, and although he’s coming off an abhorrent season (.890 save percentage), there’s hope he can return to the serviceable goaltender he was in LA (.921 save percentage).

Bussi is another interesting option, as he was the primary goaltender for AHL-Providence over the last two seasons. Bussi appeared in 78 career games with the P-Bruins and has an overall record of 48-17-9 with a 2.55 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.

Swayman is still needed if the Bruins are going to make any sort of noise this season, though.