Kind of a strange move from the Bruins, given where it seemed they were headed with the rest of their deadline moves. But hey...why not i guess? Slim chance he catches on and becomes a long term sort of "complementary 2-way RHD filler" partner for Lohrei or something. But in the meantime...at least not just completely tanking out, and it's not like a 4th next year is a huge cost i suppose.
Still just feels like a guy they could've waited on...though perhaps they were interested in him this summer as a UFA, and this deal is a pretty low cost way of gauging whether he's worth signing to a contract with term or not. In that sense, it's a potentially very cheap "rental". In that you can see if he fits with your blueline or not. And if not...you're entirely untethered to Jokiharju in any contractual sense. I suppose not making another UFA mistake is worth a fair bit, potentially.