It might not take very long for Bruins fans to see Jeremy Swayman back in the Black and Gold.
Swayman missed the entirety of training camp due to a contract dispute. That squabble came to an emphatic end Sunday when the B’s announced a new eight-year, $66 million contract extension for their No. 1 goalie. Not long after putting pen to paper, Swayman boarded the team plane and made the trip to Sunrise, Fla., ahead of the B’s season opener Tuesday vs. the Panthers.
Surely, that was just to support his teammates, no? There’s no way the netminder — after missing the last few weeks — could be ready for the curtain-jerker, right?
Well, maybe.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Monday in Florida that Swayman is a “possibility” to start Game No. 1 for the B’s, as relayed by Jim McBride of The Boston Globe.
That would be a major turn of events based on all that has happened up until this point. Montgomery even acknowledged a week ago that all signs pointed to Joonas Korpisalo starting the opener with Swayman’s contract in limbo.
“Where we are with camp right now with how well camp has gone, and how well Korpisalo has one, as of right now (Korpisalo’s going to be our Game 1 starter,” Montgomery said in a Oct. 1 press conference.
In hindsight, the words “right now” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
Even if Swayman isn’t between the pipes Tuesday night, that he’s even a “possibility” bodes well for the short-term prospects of an early-season return. Swayman has been working with Boston University’s hockey team and apparently is in a good place with his ramp-up.
If he’s possible for Tuesday, one could assume he’s even more possible for Thursday’s home opener against Montreal which would make for quite the scene at TD Garden.
