The first big domino in the Bruins’ offseason fell Monday night with the trade of Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators . In return, Boston got forward Mark Kastelic, goalie Joonas Korpisalo and a 2024 first-round pick (25th overall).
That is… underwhelming. The pipe dreams of a top-10 pick or a package of Jakob Chychrun and a late first were always unlikely. Getting any first-round pick, especially when the Bruins haven’t had one in four of the last six drafts, is nice, to be sure.
Having to take on Korpisalo and his contract to get it is not. The Senators are retaining 25% of his cap hit, but the Bruins are still on the hook for four more years of Korpisalo at $3 million annually. Add in Kastelic’s $835,000 salary and Boston actually saved just $1.165 million against the cap with this trade when it’s all said and done.
Korpisalo was bad this past season. Among the 54 goalies who made at least 25 appearances, he ranked 51st in save percentage (.890), 37th in high-danger save percentage (.810) and 53rd in goals saved above expected (-16.1). There was speculation that the Senators may have even been considering a buyout after just one year of his four-year contract.
It certainly seems like taking on Korpisalo was the only way the Bruins were going to get a first-round pick from Ottawa. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen had previously reported that Boston had no interest in Korpisalo when the Senators offered him in a package for Ullmark at the trade deadline in March.
The Bruins may believe that they can get Korpisalo’s career back on track and rebuild his value. There is a reason he got a five-year, $20 million contract in the first place: He was very good in 2022-23 while splitting time between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings. That year he ranked 11th in save percentage (.915), fourth in high-danger save percentage (.873) and 11th in goals saved above expected (+12.7).
If the Bruins and goalie coach Bob Essensa can get Korpisalo back to that level, his contract won’t seem unreasonable at all and Don Sweeney could potentially flip him in another trade. That’s a risky gamble, though.
The flip side is that 2022-23 ends up being an outlier, Korpisalo continues to play poorly, and the Bruins are just stuck with him. They could waive him and send him to the AHL or buy out his contract, but there would still be a cap hit against them with either move (detailed in the tweets below).
The addition of Korpisalo also creates an interesting dynamic with 25-year-old Brandon Bussi, who signed a one-year extension earlier Monday. Bussi would need to clear waivers in order to be sent to AHL Providence. Would the Bruins risk him getting claimed? Would they keep three goalies? Would they send down Korpisalo and eat the money if Bussi outperforms him in training camp and preseason?
Regardless, Sweeney still has one big piece of business left at the goalie position: Locking up Jeremy Swayman. That contract extension is expected to get done soon. Obviously, Sweeney would not have traded away Ullmark if there was any doubt when it comes to pushing the Swayman negotiations across the finish line.
After Monday’s trade, and without a Swayman extension yet accounted for, the Bruins now have about $24 million in cap space. You can pencil in about $7-8 million of that for Swayman.
From there, Sweeney’s priority should be adding two top-six forwards, with one of them preferably being a center. That could use up the rest of the money. Jake DeBrusk seems unlikely to return. Elias Lindholm remains the most likely center target in free agency. Sam Reinhart and Jake Guentzel top the winger market if they aren’t locked up before July 1. But Sweeney also now has a first-round pick that could help him acquire a top-line center or scoring wing via trade.
If the Bruins hold on to the pick, they could target a center prospect like Michael Hage, Sacha Boisvert or Cole Beaudoin, or maybe a mobile, physical defenseman like Stian Solberg or Charlie Elick. While a higher pick would, in theory, bring more certainty, there should be some intriguing prospects with upside to be had at 25. Speaking of which, the last time the Bruins picked 25th, they got some guy named David Pastrnak. (We’ll have more draft coverage in the days to come, by the way.)
The final piece of the return for Ullmark is Kastelic, a 25-year-old fourth-line center type who isn’t exactly a needle-mover, but who does play a style Bruins fans will enjoy. He’s big (6-foot-3), physical and willing to drop the gloves, he has some speed, and he’s good defensively and strong on faceoffs (56.3% career). His father, Ed, played for the Hartford Whalers from 1988-92, and his grandfather, Pat Stapleton, played for the Bruins from 1961-63.
Kastelic’s arrival could spell the end for Pat Maroon in Boston given that the two bring some similar attributes on the ice, and Kastelic is 11 years younger and a much faster skater. It’s also fair to wonder about Danton Heinen. Saving just $1.165 million in an Ullmark trade instead of $4-5 million may make Heinen, who could be in line to get $2-3 million on the open market, a bottom-six luxury the Bruins can’t afford as they target upgrades higher in the lineup.
The wheels are in motion on the Bruins’ offseason, and they won’t be slowing down for at least the next week. The draft begins Friday night and free agency begins Monday.
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