Bruce Cassidy, like everyone else who has had the fortune of crossing paths with Dan Vladar, had nothing but positive things to say about the young netminder when asked about him earlier this week.
“A great kid, he came to the rink every day with a smile on his face,” Cassidy said. “I think his understanding of the language got better. Came here at a young age — got better and better, so you're able to communicate with him more. I liked him."
It’s hard not to root for a player like Vladar, an eternal optimist who never wavered despite an arduous road to the NHL littered with injury setbacks and a lack of proven playing time on Boston’s depth chart.
As Bruins Director of Player Development Jamie Langenbrunner once noted of Vladar: “I don’t think he’s ever had a bad day in his life.”
As such, Sunday might have just been par for the course for the cheery Vladar.
But after posting his second career shutout — and blanking his former club in the Bruins in the process — Vladar couldn’t help but express his delight at putting forth such a statement in his return to TD Garden.
“I just came here with the mindset to get a W,” Vladar said following Calgary’s 4-0 shutout victory over the Bruins. “I wasn’t trying to think about who I was playing against. Obviously, I got a bunch of friends on the Bruins team and I want them to do well.
"But if you come here as an opponent, I know my role, I knew who I’m playing against, who my family is. So I was just fighting for our team and I really feel like a part of this team.”
Vladar — now 4-0-1 with a .945 save percentage as Calgary’s backup — sure seems to have settled into his new spot behind chief backstop Jacob Markstrom.
Such a defined role was not guaranteed with his former club in Boston — with any chance of Vladar earning regular reps with the B’s all but dashed when the Bruins inked Linus Ullmark to a four-year, $20 million contract back on July 28.
Just a few hours after Ullmark crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s on his new deal, Vladar was dealt to Calgary for a 2022 third-round pick.
“It's one of those things that we just decided we didn't want to have two young goalies at the same time,” Cassidy said. “Chose Swayman. (Vladar’s) numbers are good in Calgary. Good for him. He's a hard-working kid. A little bit of tough luck here with some injuries early on in his career down here in Providence.
“So hopefully if he can get past those and stay healthy, carve out a nice spot for himself there with Markstrom — probably a good guy to be playing behind as a young guy. Plays a lot. So it allows him to tidy up his game in practice. So happy for Dan. Like I said, he was a great kid and was just a bit of a numbers game here.”
Vladar showcased plenty of the promise that Boston saw in him over his six years in the system on Sunday — with the 6-foot-5 netminder regularly snuffing out Boston's Grade-A chances thanks to some sound rebound control and a stingy defensive structure in front of him. In total, Vladar finished with 27 saves in the shutout victory — his second-straight clean sheet after stopping 27-of-27 shots against the Senators on Nov. 14.
"He's great guy, a great teammate," Jeremy Swayman said of his former battery mate in Providence. "Obviously, we don't like losing. But yeah, I'm happy for him. He's had success. Good for him."
Of course, for as much as Bruins fans get red in the face when weighing Vladar’s impressive returns in Calgary with Ullmark’s play — and especially the money committed to him — let’s also be frank here.
As bold as it would have been for Boston to roll out a young tandem of Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar this season — there was NO chance that a Bruins team still looking to contend was going to place its hopes squarely on the shoulders of two goalies who had played a whopping 15 regular-season games prior to this season.
Just wasn’t going to happen.
There was simply too much risk involved there, and it'd be awfully unfair to place those expectations on a pair of rookies during such a critical time in this franchise’s contention window.
And even if the Bruins were holding out hope for Tuukka Rask to return and bail the club out in January/February if both Swayman and Vladar stumbled, Boston couldn’t operate with the risk that its goalie corps could have been rudderless for the first three-plus months of this season.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to Boston’s handling of its overhauled goalie corps.
But if you still have a gripe about the Bruins’ handling of Vladar, focus more on the so-so return in the trade, or perhaps whether or not the proper move was to simply sign a cheap veteran to pair with Swayman while awaiting Rask’s return.
But a Swayman-Vladar tandem was never going to be a tangible option for this club.
Of course, it doesn’t seem like Vladar has any qualms about his current situation.
While Calgary’s tandem of Markstrom and Vladar rank second and 11th, respectively, among a pool of 56 NHL goalies this season in goals saved above average (GSAA), Swayman and Ullmark rank 37th and 38th with GSAAs of -1.01 and -1.05. (In other words, they’re letting in more goals than the “average” netminder would surrender, given the quality of shots they’re facing).
Of course, there’s plenty of time for both Swayman and Ullmark to right the ship — and even though Vladar’s strong start has drawn even more detractors regarding Ullmark’s contract, he’s still only logged a grand total of seven games in a B’s sweater.
And, if worst comes to worst, a certain Finnish import has been spotted around Warrior Ice Arena over the last few weeks.
But as the Bruins continue to try and weather the storm in search of the winning formula in net, Vladar and his new club now sail back home under clear skies — sitting atop the Pacific Division and boasting seven shutouts over their first 19 games.
Much like his time in Boston, there are no bad days on the horizon for Vladar in Calgary.
But in his new town, that optimism is finally getting rewarded.
“I didn’t want to waste this opportunity. I wanted to come here and prove to our staff and our coaches and my teammates that I can really play — even under some pressure that someone might think that I’d have tonight. ... This one was just special."
“Gotta enjoy it until midnight tonight and then a quick recovery and be ready for practice in what … 12 hours again? A quick turnaround and then the sun comes up again tomorrow. I’ve still got two hours to enjoy it. And then a new day comes and just gotta be even better than today.”