The Bruins have quietly stacked up real depth in goal, and the group stretches well beyond Jeremy Swayman and Michael DiPietro.
With Joonas Korpisalo moved on July 1, DiPietro now has a clearer lane to the backup job. Behind him, Boston has six more goaltenders in the organization, with two still developing in college and Europe and four already under contract. The Bruins also added Kyle Chauvette as their emergency backup goalie, and he’ll travel with the NHL club this season.
That kind of depth is exactly why Don Sweeney said on July 1 that the organization feels “comfortable with our depth of our goaltending.” Boston has also leaned on goalie coaches Bob Essensa and Mike Dunham for years, and the pipeline they’re working with now is a mix of proven minor-league options, a veteran AHL hand, and a pair of prospects with real upside.
Simon Zajicek is one of the more established names in the system. Boston signed him out of the Czech league last summer after a 15-13-0 regular season that included five shoutouts, a league-leading .930 SV%, and a 2.12 GAA.
He already had 90 games of Czech Extraliga experience when he arrived, and he backed that up in Providence with a 14-6-1 record, a 2.44 GAA, and a .915 SV% in 21 games. Zajicek got off to a fast start, winning 10 of his first 12 starts, but his season was interrupted by two lower-body injuries after the New Year.
Boston signed him to another one-year deal in June, and the Korpisalo trade should give him more room to work in his second year with the organization.
Luke Cavallin is another goalie who has already shown he can handle a heavy workload. The Bruins signed the reigning Kelly Cup MVP last summer to an entry-level contract after he backstopped Trois-Rivières to a 15-5-0 playoff record, a .948 SV%, and a 1.53 GAA.
In the regular season, he went 19-10-2 with a .929 SV% and a 2.13 GAA. Last season, Cavallin played mostly in Maine, where he appeared in 34 games and posted an 18-10-3 record, a .917 SV%, and a 2.35 GAA.
He also took over the crease during the Mariners’ run to the Eastern Conference Final and stepped in for Providence while Zajicek was out, going 6-2-0 in eight starts. Boston qualified him before free agency and then signed him to a one-year deal on July 1.
The Bruins also added Max Lundgren after Merrimack’s season ended, signing him to a one-year entry-level contract for 2026-27. Lundgren played every minute for the Warriors and helped deliver the school’s first Hockey East title, then earned tournament MVP honors.
He finished 21-16-2 with a 2.55 GAA and a .920 SV%, led the NCAA in saves with 1,134, and paced Hockey East in wins. After signing, he joined Providence and Maine on amateur tryout agreements but did not appear in a game for either team.
He was also at Bruins development camp this summer and, even in a setting that usually favors skaters, looked comfortable throughout.
Jiri Patera gives the group some age and experience. Boston signed the 27-year-old on July 1, and while he’s only two years older than Zajicek and Cavallin, he has the most pro mileage of any minor-league goalie in the system.
Patera has played seven AHL seasons, going 51-56-12 in 122 games with a 2.84 GAA and a .907 SV%. He started 30 games for Abbotsford last season and went 12-14-4.
Sweeney pointed to his NHL experience after the signing, and Patera is the only goalie in Boston’s minor-league system with any NHL games on his résumé, though that total is just nine. The Bruins claimed him off waivers on October 2, 2024, during the Jeremy Swayman contract situation, then lost him back to Abbotsford four days later when the Canucks reclaimed him on October 7.
On the prospect side, Boston used its first pick in the 2026 draft on Yuri Ivanov, a 17-year-old Russian goalie who made an immediate impression at development camp. Ivanov looked more polished than his age suggests, and he had already taken over the starting job for Spartak Moscow’s junior team midway through the season.
He helped push that club to the Kharlamov Cup final, finishing the regular season 13-3-1 and the postseason 6-5-1. Sweeney said right after the draft that Ivanov will keep developing in Russia, and the lack of a transfer agreement between the NHL and KHL gives the Bruins time with him.
Boston also added Roberto “Leo” Henriquez in the sixth round, and he’s another name worth tracking closely. Henriquez was eligible for the 2025 draft but went unselected after a 4-10-2 season with a 4.01 GAA and .877 SV%.
He bounced back in 2026, his second year in Green Bay, finishing 21-9-4 with a 2.22 GAA and a .921 SV%. He was named to Slovakia’s roster for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championships, though he did not dress.
Ryan Nadeau said Dunham and Essensa like Henriquez and are excited to work with him. He’s headed to Boston College in the fall, where the goalie room is crowded and rising sophomore Louka Cloutier, who is with Edmonton, won the starting job last year.
Even so, Henriquez gives the Bruins another development piece to watch.
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The Bruins are still looking for the kind of internal jump that can change the feel of a season, and Poitras is the sort of player who could help answer that need if the development keeps trending the right way. His AHL track record suggests there is more to unlock, and Boston is hoping that by 2026-27 he can grow into a regular top-nine role rather than remain a player the team shuttles in and out of the lineup. For now, the question is less about whether the talent is there and more about when the Bruins finally get enough of it at the NHL level. [Read more 🡒]