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Coming Off Career Year, Bruins' Jeremy Smith Ready To Finally Get Backup Job

BOSTON (CBS) -- One professional goaltender on the Bruins' organizational depth chart had a career year in 2014-15, and his name wasn't Tuukka Rask.

Jeremy Smith, who turned 26 in April, had a .933 save percentage and 2.05 goals-against average in his sixth pro season and first with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League.

While Smith was coming into his own eight years after the Nashville Predators selected him in the second round (pick No. 54) in 2007, the Bruins were grasping at straws for a way to get Rask some rest. By the end of the season the Bruins gave up on that plan and Rask tied a franchise record for games played with 70.

Smith was overlooked, but he remained patient.

"I think if you get frustrated it shows immaturity," Smith said after practice at TD Garden on Monday. "I don't choose when I get put in the net and I can only perform when I am put in the net. So I think for me it was more or less just focusing on myself, waiting for my chance. And if I did get the nod, I wanted to be ready. I think it would've been frustrating if I got the nod and I didn't perform. I think that would've been frustrating. I think it was all a learning experience for myself. It was a good year. I don't think I can take anything bad from that."

Smith proved he had no hard feelings toward the Bruins over the summer, when the team let him become an unrestricted free agent and he promptly re-signed with Boston for one-year, $600,000 on a two-way deal. Now he's being given the opportunity to win the job behind Rask in a four-way competition that also includes Jonas Gustavsson, a veteran on a PTO; Malcolm Subban, Boston's 2012 first-round draft pick; and Zane McIntyre, a first-year pro who was a Hobey Baker finalist for North Dakota last season.

Smith and Gustavsson combined on a 2-0 shutout against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in the Bruins' preseason opener. Smith entered during the second period and finished with 12 saves.

"I think I played well. It was good to get the first game and get it under my belt and I felt comfortable," Smith said.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and coach Claude Julien are both on record as saying they can't foresee Rask making it through another season of 70 games played. Oddly, the extra playing time didn't take much of a toll on Rask, who finished with a .922 save percentage and 2.30 GAA. But the Bruins have the 28-year-old Rask signed into the next decade and can't risk wearing him down before we get to the end of this decade.

The job opening left when Svedberg bolted for the KHL was part of what attracted Smith to another stint with Boston. He also felt the Bruins provided him with an environment favorable for his development.

"I think so. Not only [goaltending coach] Bob [Essensa], but the entire organization. I think every coach, every bit of the organization I had to interact with, it was all professional and beneficial to me," he said.

Smith actually was on the Bruins' bench as their backup twice last season, but he still hasn't played a second in the NHL in the regular season. It's somewhat baffling that he didn't get a chance to play considering the Bruins' lost faith in Svedberg and Subban's disastrous NHL debut (three goals on six shots and pulled in the second period in St. Louis).

In fact, the only thing more baffling than Boston shying away from giving Smith a shot was the way Svedberg fell out of favor with Julien and the Bruins. One season removed from winning the award as the best goaltender in the AHL, Svedberg won two of five appearances in October with a .940 save percentage and 1.66 GAA. He had a .873 save percentage and 3.72 GAA in three games in November. He still managed to win one of those games, but he only played in 10 games the rest of the season. He finished with a .918 save percentage and 2.33 GAA for the season, so his numbers didn't cost him playing time. Considering how much down time he had between starts, and he was playing behind the same injury-depleted defense and inept offense as everyone else (an excuse used by everyone that had a down year for the Bruins last season), Svedberg persevered pretty well.

Maybe it takes more than solid statistics to impress Julien and earn some playing time. Smith figures he'll find that out down the road if he has to, but for now he's going to hope his puck stopping gets him into the NHL.

"I think all I can do is get in there and play my game and try to win every game I'm in," he said. "And let the pieces fall where they may. And hopefully I win every game and we don't have to worry about that."

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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