Bruins sign Czech goalie to entry-level deal
Simon Zajicek posted a .930 save percentage in the Czech Extraliga this past season.
The Boston Bruins bolstered their goaltending depth chart on Monday.
Boston announced on Monday that it signed Czech goalie Simon Zajicek to a one-year, entry-level contract with an NHL cap hit of $872,500.
Zajicek, 23, played for HC Litvinov in the Czech Extraliga (Czechia’s highest pro league) during the 2024-25 season — sporting a .930 save percentage to go along with a 15-13-0 record and 2.12 goals-against average.
Zajicek has played his entire pro hockey career in Czechia, and was not drafted by any NHL team — so there will be some adjustments for him as he makes his way over to North America.
But there should be an opportunity for Zajicek in the Bruins organization. Even though Boston currently has both Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo under contract in the NHL ranks, both of Providence’s goalies in Michael DiPietro and Brandon Bussi will be unrestricted free agents on July 1.
While Providence would ideally want to retain one of DiPietro and Bussi, the writing is on the wall that at least one will not be back — opening the door for Zajicek to step into regular reps at the AHL level.
Even though Boston has two NHL netminders under contract, Don Sweeney noted last month the Bruins might be looking at shifting their expectations for the goalie group — especially when it comes to reps for Swayman.
“In my exit meeting, Jeremy categorically denied that the extra workload was part of it,” Sweeney said. “In some ways, it also led Korpisalo to say he didn’t play enough and would like to have a little more of that lion’s share, and that’s part of the internal competition that I think we have to get back to and being able to push for playing time, for opportunity.
“There were opportunities in the course of the year where Korpisalo was playing really well and probably deserved the net. There were other times where our group felt that to get Sway back on track, to put him in situations and leverage situations that arguably he should be playing in and playing his best hockey. And if we’re going to be successful, we would like him to do that, we clearly would like him to get back to the level that he’s more than capable of getting to.”
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