The Boston Bruins are bolstering their goaltending strength just before the 2024-2025 regular season. With contract negotiations going poorly with presumptive starter and restricted free agent Jeremy Swayman, the team is poised to add veteran Joonas Korpisalo early in the season. The team also needs another goaltender with NHL experience.

Luckily for the Bruins, the Vancouver Canucks placed a goalie on the waiver line at exactly the same time. According to insider Elliotte Friedman, the Bruins acquired goaltender Jiri Patera from the Canucks.

Before being acquired by the Bruins, Patera was scheduled to play his first season with the Canucks. This organization has its own problems with goaltending depth, which presented Patera with the opportunity to steal some starts in Vancouver. However, that wasn’t to be as he now gets a chance to get playing time with Korpisalo in Boston.

Patera was originally selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He was an above-average goalkeeper, standing at 1.80 m tall and weighing almost 100 kg, and had enormous potential.

After a few seasons in the junior ranks of the Western Hockey League, he practiced his craft professionally in the top Czech league. Upon joining the Golden Knights organization, he worked his way up through the Eastern Coast Hockey League (ECHL) to the AHL, where he spent parts of three seasons with the Henderson Silver Knights. In 2022-2023, he started 31 games for the team and compiled a record of 14-15-1.

Patera’s NHL experience is limited, but he has it. He made his NHL debut in the 2022–2023 season, his best professional season to date. He played two games and won in both appearances. He played six games for the Golden Knights last year. He struggled in those games, going 1-3-1 with a goals-against average of 3.98.

Now he’s headed to the Bruins, where he’ll be tasked with backing up Korpisalo and giving the team another NHL-caliber goalie as they continue negotiating with Jeremy Swayman.

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