The Bruins signed goaltender Jeremy Smith to a one-year, two-way contract Wednesday. The contract is worth $80,000 at the AHL level and $550,000 at the NHL level.
The signing comes a day after general manager Peter Chiarelli said that Niklas Svedberg, who was signed to a one-year, $600,000 deal last week, was not guaranteed the backup job behind Tuukka Rask.
“I think he’s almost ready, if not ready,” Chiarelli said Tuesday. “It doesn’t mean he gets the job; it doesn’t mean we won’t add somebody at some point to challenge him.”
With all due respect to Smith, it would be a surprise if he were to beat Svedberg out for the backup job. Instead, it’s more likely that Smith will take Svedberg’s job on the Providence roster, sharing AHL goaltending duties with 2012 first-round pick Malcolm Subban.
The 25-year-old Smith was drafted by the Predators in the second round of the 2007 draft. He has never played an NHL game, as he has spent the first season of his professional career in the ECHL before playing the last four seasons in the AHL. The brunt of his AHL experience to this point has been with the Milwaukee Admirals, though he played for the Springfield Falcons last season as a member of the Columbus organization.
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