Boston Bruins claim goaltender Jiri Patera off waivers

The Boston Bruins have claimed goaltender Jiri Patera off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks.

Patera will likely fill in a role either behind Jonas Korpisalo or with the Bruins’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Providence Bruins.

Patera signed a two-year, $1.55 million with the Canucks during the summer.

Patera spent the 2023-24 season with the Vegas Golden Knights and their AHL affiliate the Henderson Silver Knights where he compiled a 1-3-1 record a 3.98 goals against average with Vegas, and an 11-10-4 record and a 2.99 GAA with Henderson in 25 starts.

During the 2022-23 campaign, the 25-year-old earned a 14-15-1 record in the AHL with a 2.86 GAA and .911 SV%. He also played in two games in the NHL for the Golden Knights, winning both of them and putting up a .929 SV%.

The Prague, Czechia native was originally selected No. 161 overall by Vegas in the 2017 NHL Draft. Patera played for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League (USHL) following his draft year, he put up a record of 13-13-0. Patera then made the transition to the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he spent the next two seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Following his WHL tenure, he played for Ceske Budejovice HC in Czechia. After a 2-12-0 start in the Czech Republic, he returned to North America making his AHL debut with the Silver Knights.

The Bruins are currently in a war with starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman, according to Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, the Bruins proposed an eight-year contract to the young netminder, with an AAV of $7.8 million. The offer is different from what team president Cam Neely hinted at. During his media availability on Monday, Neely hinted that Boston offered Swayman an eight-year contract worth $64 million; which Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, released a statement shooting it down.