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Bruins Won't Buy Out Or Flip Joonas Korpisalo

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Linus Ullmark had his first media availability today after being acquired from the Bruins by the Senators on Monday, clearing up some pre-trade rumors that had been floating around in the process. While some believed Ullmark had waived his modified no-trade clause to green-light the deal to Ottawa, he told reporters today that the Senators were never on his no-trade list (via TSN’s Claire Hanna).

  • After taking on the struggling Korpisalo from the Senators in this week’s Ullmark blockbuster, the Bruins intend to have him start next season as Jeremy Swayman’s backup, a team representative confirmed to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. Boston picked up Korpisalo at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28, a 25% reduction on his initial $4MM price tag. Some wondered if a buyout may be coming for the netminder who had a .890 SV% and saved 20.8 goals below average in 55 games for the Sens this year, but that isn’t in the cards.

Senators Acquire Linus Ullmark

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With Jeremy Swayman set to land what’s expected to be a significant contract as a restricted free agent this summer, it has been widely expected that the Bruins would be moving out Linus Ullmark.  That move has now happened as Ullmark has been moved to Ottawa in exchange for the 25th pick in this week’s draft, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic.  Both sides have announced the swap which also sees the Senators retaining 25% of Korpisalo’s contract.

Ullmark has spent the last three seasons with Boston after signing a four-year, $20MM contract with them in free agency back in 2021.  It’s fair to say that the move worked out quite well for both sides.

After struggling with inconsistency throughout his time in Buffalo, the 30-year-old has become one of the top netminders in the NHL.  In 2022-23, he played in a platoon with Swayman but was nothing short of dominant, winning 40 of 48 starts while posting a league-best 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%.  That helped him earn his first career Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Goalie of the Year.

Not surprisingly, those numbers dropped this season although coming off the year he had, that was to be expected.  Even so, Ullmark was still above average, putting up a 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 39 starts.  However, he was limited to just two postseason appearances (one start) with Swayman getting the bulk of the workload.

With Swayman set to command a long-term deal and having arbitration eligibility for the second year in a row, it wouldn’t have been feasible for Boston to keep both netminders in the fold.  Doing so would have made them one of the highest-spending teams on goaltenders which would have cut into their flexibility to fill some other needs this summer.

Meanwhile, from Ottawa’s standpoint, a move to shore things up between the pipes has been an annual occurrence recently with middling results at best.  Last summer, Korpisalo was brought in on a five-year, $20MM contract following a strong bounce-back year with Columbus and Los Angeles.  However, instead of turning things around in goal, he struggled considerably, posting a 3.27 GAA and a career-worst .890 SV%.  Boston will assume a $3MM cap charge on Korpisalo for the next four years while Ottawa will carry $1MM of dead cap charges for that time.  They’ll be hoping that in a better-structured system, he could put up similar numbers to the ones he put up with the Kings down the stretch in 2023, another defensive-oriented team.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better; while his GAA was a little better at a still-below-average 3.21, his save percentage also checked in at .890.  Meanwhile, their potential goalie of the future Mads Sogaard also struggled, coming up with a 4.05 GAA and a .859 SV% in his six NHL appearances.  Knowing that, many expected that they would be making another attempt to upgrade in goal this summer; Ullmark certainly represents one.  The Sens were believed to be interested in acquiring Ullmark during the season although that never came to fruition with Ottawa believed to be on Ullmark’s partial no-trade list.  Evidently, he had a change of heart to help facilitate the move.

Once July 1st comes around, Ullmark will become extension-eligible as he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract.  No informal agreement is in place yet although Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are working on getting an extension in place.  If that happens, he’d become their long-term starter with Sogaard likely getting the full-time promotion to the NHL to serve as his backup starting in 2025-26 after Forsberg’s contract comes to an end.

Meanwhile, Boston is also adding a rugged fourth liner in Kastelic.  The 25-year-old played in 63 games with the Sens this season, collecting five goals, five assists, 63 penalty minutes, and 126 hits while averaging a little less than eight minutes a night.  For his NHL career, Kastelic has 25 points and 331 hits in 144 games with Ottawa.  He’s signed through the upcoming season at a $835K cap charge and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time so he could be in their plans for a couple of years at least.  The Bruins have several pending unrestricted free agents up front so Kastelic will be taking the place of one of those players.

Boston will also get to do something they haven’t been able to do lately and that’s draft in the first round.  Assuming they hold onto the pick, this will be the first time that they picked on the opening day of the draft since 2021 when they took Fabian Lysell 21st overall.  Interestingly enough, that pick has been well-traveled.  It’s Boston’s own selection but they originally moved it for Tyler Bertuzzi at the 2023 trade deadline.  Detroit then sent it to Ottawa as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade last offseason and now it has returned to the Bruins.

The move winds up being relatively cap-neutral for both sides.  In the end, Boston saves $1.165MM with the swap, bringing their cap space for this coming summer to just under $21.6MM, per CapFriendly.  Meanwhile, the Sens are now down to $11.3MM in room, per CapFriendly.  We’ll find out in the coming days how the teams plan to spend the bulk of those funds.

Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald was the first to report that Ullmark was heading to Ottawa.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins Sign Brandon Bussi To Two-Way Extension

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The Bruins announced Monday that they’ve signed depth netminder Brandon Bussi to a one-year, two-way deal covering next season. It carries a cap hit of $775K salary, and he’ll earn $225K in the minors with a $275K guarantee, per PuckPedia.

Bussi, 25, has served as their third-string netminder for the past two seasons. He’s been recalled under emergency conditions a handful of times but has yet to make his NHL debut.

An undrafted free agent signing out of Western Michigan University in 2022, the 6’4″ Bussi has provided good value for the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Providence. He was electric last season and earned AHL All-Rookie Team honors with a sparkling 22-5-4 record, .924 SV% and 2.40 GAA in 32 games, although he regressed somewhat to a .913 SV% and 2.67 GAA in 41 appearances this year. It was still a solid showing for the New York native, who’s aggressively knocking on the door for NHL time.

For now, though, he’s expected to remain in the starter’s crease for the P-Bruins to open next season. Even if the Bruins move on from Linus Ullmark via trade, they’ll likely replace his spot with a goalie coming back the other way or via a free-agent signing. A two-way extension for Bussi doesn’t exude confidence that they envision him as the backup to Jeremy Swayman entering 2024-25.

One complicating factor is that, for the first time, Bussi will require waivers to head to Providence if he doesn’t crack the NHL roster out of training camp. After a pair of strong seasons with the P-Bruins, there’s a decent chance he’d be claimed.

Bruins, Danton Heinen Have Mutual Interest In Extension

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Talks have begun in Boston on an extension for pending UFA forward Danton Heinen, who 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson writes prefers to stay with the Bruins.

It’s been quite a ride over the past 12 months for the 28-year-old, whose second stint in Boston appears to have revitalized his career. After failing to land a contract on the open market last summer, he settled for a professional tryout agreement with the Bruins that turned into a league-minimum agreement in late October after general manager Don Sweeney opened up the required cap space. He responded with 36 points in 74 games, his highest offensive output since his 47-point rookie campaign with Boston back in 2017-18.

Boston Bruins Sign Ian Mitchell To One-Year Extension

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The Boston Bruins will retain some of their defensive depth as the team announced a one-year, two-way contract extension for defenseman Ian Mitchell. The deal will pay Mitchell the league minimum of $775K at the NHL level in a contract that will make Mitchell arbitration-eligible next summer.

Acquired by the Bruins in a cost-cutting move last summer, Mitchell was traded with Alec Regula from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Taylor Hall and the contractual rights to Nick Foligno. Of the two, Mitchell was the only one to suit up for Boston last season as Regula spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Similarly, Mitchell spent 42 games in Providence scoring six goals and 24 points from the blue line as he finished third on the team in scoring among defensemen.

Regulated to a flexible depth option in a much deeper defensive core, Mitchell played in 13 games for Boston this past season where he tallied two assists in total. Even though he saw his games played total slashed by nearly 20 after moving on from the Blackhawks, Mitchell still maintained an average of more than 15 minutes of ice time per game.

With the emergence of Mason Lohrei last season and in the playoffs, Boston should have much of their defensive core put in place heading into the 2024-25 NHL season. Due to this fact, Mitchell will likely start the season back in Providence in the same depth option role he spent in the Bruins organization last year.

Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub was the first to report the Bruins had extended Mitchell. 

Could Swayman Be The Better Trade Option For Boston; Bussi Nearing New Deal

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While a Linus Ullmark trade is the expected outcome when it comes to what happens with Boston’s goaltending situation, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe discusses the other possibility on the trade front.  Instead of moving Ullmark and signing Jeremy Swayman to a long-term deal, perhaps extending Ullmark and moving Swayman could be the better way to go for the Bruins.

Swayman has two years of club control remaining (with arbitration eligibility) and is coming off the better year between the two plus a strong playoff showing that saw him post a 2.15 GAA and a .933 SV% in a dozen starts.  His trade value would be considerably higher as a result, giving the Bruins a chance to potentially fill multiple needs, including an impact center and a defensive upgrade.  At this point, it doesn’t seem likely to happen but if trade talks surrounding Ullmark stall out over extension discussions, the Bruins could certainly consider flipping the script.  Considering how quickly the goalie market moves in the summer, however, it’s a decision they’d have to make rather quickly.

  • Speaking of Bruins netminders, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal reports (Twitter link) that the team has made progress on a new deal for pending RFA goaltender Brandon Bussi. The 25-year-old is coming off a strong year with AHL Providence where he had a 2.67 GAA with a .913 SV% in 41 games.  Depending on if Boston has to take a goalie back in the eventual trade and how they plan to use their cap space, it’s possible that he could be in line to take over the second-string duties next season despite not having yet made an appearance at the NHL level.

Latest On Potential Linus Ullmark Trade

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Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times expects the Tampa Bay Lightning to make a trade in the near future to cut costs as they try to find room to sign pending free agent captain Steven Stamkos to a contract extension. The Lightning are up against the cap with just $5.335MM in cap space and have just 18 active roster players signed for next season.

Encina looks at the contracts of Tanner Jeannot and Erik Cernak as possibilities to move on from. Jeannot has struggled since coming over from Nashville for five draft picks and Callan Foote and is slated to make $2.665MM next year, while Cernak is owed $5.2MM. Jeannot seems like the likelier of the two to be moved as he has just a year left on his contract at half the cost and has already been linked to multiple teams.

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Nick Kypreos speculates in the Toronto Star that the Toronto Maple Leafs have interest in pending free agent forward Jake DeBrusk. The 27-year-old has haunted the Maple Leafs in the playoffs could slide into the team’s top six if they don’t bring back Max Domi or Tyler Bertuzzi. DeBrusk is coming off a disappointing season with the Boston Bruins, tallying just 19 goals and 21 assists in 80 games. However, the Edmonton, Alberta native is just a year removed from a 27-goal season and has surpassed 25 goals on three separate occasions.
  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on 32 Thoughts that he believes that a big holdup on the Linus Ullmark trade is a potential contract extension being worked out. Friedman points out that a lot of teams aren’t interested in paying the Bruins high asking price for a goaltender that would only be a rental and would like an extension in place before making the deal. Friedman also notes that in the case of a team like the Ottawa Senators, he would have to waive his no-trade clause and likely work out an extension with the team to make the trade happen. Boston has held firm on their asking price in recent weeks but might have to adjust it as some teams that were in on Ullmark have already addressed their goaltending situation, and there are other potential available options on the market.

Senators Upping Efforts To Land Linus Ullmark

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With Jacob Markstrom now in New Jersey, the Senators have stepped up their efforts to acquire Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  Ullmark saw his numbers drop this year compared to his Vezina-winning 2022-23 campaign but he still posted a solid 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 40 games.  Those numbers would represent a significant improvement on the 3.30 and .888 that Ottawa put up as a team in 2023-24.  Ullmark has one year left on his contract with a $5MM price tag and it’s worth noting that he has a 16-team no-trade clause so he does have some say in where he could ultimately be moved.

Meanwhile, Garrioch adds that the Bruins don’t have interest in taking back the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract as expected.  However, with Anton Forsberg ($2.75MM) set to enter the final year of his deal next season, Boston could be amenable to taking him back, allowing the Senators to reduce the additional salary they’re taking on.  That said, Garrioch notes that there is still work to be done before this possible swap has a chance of reaching the finish line.

Bruins Won't Re-Sign Oskar Steen

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The Bruins won’t re-sign pending Group VI unrestricted free agent Oskar Steen, his agent Joakim Persson told Värmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg. Steen, 26, isn’t eligible for standard UFA status until 2025 but hits the open market early with less than 80 NHL games played and three or more professional seasons accumulated.

A sixth-round pick of the Bruins in 2016, Steen played in a career-high 34 games this season but managed just one goal on 24 shots. He averaged 9:04 per game and had poor possession metrics, although he was disproportionately deployed in defensive zone usage.

He ends his Bruins career with four goals and eight points in 60 games over the last four years. While he may not have turned into a regular contributor, getting even brief NHL action out of a late-round pick is good value.

The Karlstad, Sweden native, had 12 goals in 25 AHL games this year as well and will look to land a two-way contract with another club next month. Persson indicated that the Bruins have given him permission to seek other NHL fits for Steen, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be heading overseas.

Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

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The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs.  For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Boston.

There were some question marks surrounding the Bruins heading into the season after they lost both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.  However, they nearly won the Atlantic Division once again to bring their playoff streak to eight straight years.  Boston got past Toronto in the opening round before falling to Florida in the second round.  Armed with cap and roster flexibility for the first time in a while, GM Don Sweeney has a chance to reshape the roster or to keep the bulk of the core together.  Here’s what should be on their to-do list in the coming weeks.

Add Impact Center

After losing their top two middlemen from the year before, the Bruins didn’t do a whole lot to replace them.  Morgan Geekie came over after being non-tendered by Seattle while John Beecher and Matthew Poitras came up from the minors and the OHL respectively to largely fill the other vacancy.  In the meantime, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha covered the tough minutes.  All things considered, they cobbled together a solution relatively well given their cap constraints.

Now they don’t have those constraints; they have over $21MM in cap room, per CapFriendly.  They now have an opportunity – and a need – to try to address that.  While their internal options fared well, they’re not a group of middlemen that a contender typically has.

There aren’t any true number one options on the open market this summer but there are some proven second options that can at least give them some more impactful depth.  They were speculatively linked to Elias Lindholm last summer and it stands to reason they’ll have interest in someone who can cover the hard two-way minutes like Bergeron used to.

Among the secondary options are Chandler Stephenson, Sean Monahan, and Matt Duchene.  All three have had success on the second line recently and have some upside at the offensive end.  They might not produce more than the 60 and 59 points that Coyle and Zacha put up but a third middleman in that range would lengthen their offense and hedge against some injuries.

In theory, they could try to trade for a center but given the dearth of trade assets they have (a byproduct of going for it regularly), it’s hard to see them putting together a package that could land a top-six piece so turning to free agency should be the way they go.

Goalie Decisions

For the last couple of years, the Bruins have had a high-end goalie tandem between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, allowing them to have starting-level goaltending on a nightly basis.  However, it’s about to become a luxury that’s too expensive for them to afford.

Swayman and the Bruins couldn’t agree on a contract last season, resulting in the two sides going to arbitration where he was awarded $3.475MM.  Now, with another strong campaign under his belt, Swayman’s camp has a much better case this time around and will be heading for another big raise.  Another one-year deal would push past the $5MM mark but it’s evident that both sides will want to get a longer-term agreement done this time around.  A deal that buys multiple years of club control should cost at least $6MM while a max-term agreement probably pushes past $7MM, doubling his price from this season.

With that type of commitment to Swayman, Ullmark becomes a very expensive second option with one year and $5MM left on his deal.  While they have enough cap room to carry both, that’s not necessarily the best use of their cap space with the other spots they’ll be looking to fill on their roster.  That means they’ll be turning to the trade market as they had looked to back at the trade deadline when Ullmark is believed to have nixed a trade with his partial protection.

Ullmark will still have the ability to block a trade to nearly half the league this summer so it’s not a given that something will get done with Boston’s preferred option.  It’s unfortunate for them that Ullmark will be in the market at a time where he’s not likely to be viewed as the number one option available and, in general, goalies don’t typically yield high-end returns too frequently.  But they should find the best offer they can get in the next couple of weeks to get this taken care of before free agency opens up as they’ll then know if they were able to fill a need with the swap or, if it’s a futures-based package, if they’ll have other assets to trade to fill one of those needs.

Sweeney will also have to decide if they’ll go with rookie Brandon Bussi as the second-string option behind Swayman next season or if they want to bring in a more experienced veteran.  If they don’t get a veteran to serve as the backup in the NHL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go after a veteran third-stringer to partner with Michael DiPietro in the minors.

Re-Sign Or Replace DeBrusk

Jake DeBrusk’s future with the Bruins has been murky for several years, going back to his trade request, extension, and the eventual rescinding of that request.  But even after that time, his name was floated out as potential salary-matching ballast in hypothetical scenarios where Boston was landing a more impactful winger or help down the middle.

One way or the other, the uncertainty is coming to an end over the next couple of weeks.  DeBrusk is now a pending unrestricted free agent and is one of the younger players to hit the open market next month.  Accordingly, the time has come for the Bruins to decide if he’s part of their future plans which would require a long-term commitment and remove him from any trade speculation.  Alternatively, he’ll be parting ways in early July and Sweeney will be on the lookout for a replacement.

The 27-year-old has reached the 40-point mark five times in his seven-year career but has only hit the 50-point plateau once back in 2022-23.  Still, he’s in line for a sizable raise from the $4MM he made over the past two seasons.  A long-term agreement could conceivably push past $6MM if the open market is as strong as some are making it out to be.  Boston has the money to pay that if they want or they could take that offer and look at some other options on the open market.

There are a few wingers who should check in around that price point in free agency.  Tyler Toffoli, Vladimir Tarasenko, and David Perron are shorter-term options if they don’t want to make a long-term commitment at that spot while Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi (someone who has some familiarity with the team already) could command longer-term agreements.  Viktor Arvidsson could be a good fit as well but coming off an injury-prone year, he might want just a one-year deal to bolster his market value for 2025-26.  Either way, whether it’s re-signing or replacing DeBrusk, the Bruins have a big contract to hand out on the wing.

Add Depth

Last summer, the Bruins had several roster spots to fill for cheap, resulting in a lot of short-term contracts for role players.  Included among those were James van Riemsdyk, Danton Heinen, Milan Lucic, and Kevin Shattenkirk, all of whom are set to return to the open market this summer so Sweeney will likely be looking to follow a similar script this time around.

Up front, they have at least two and arguably as many as four spots to fill as Pat Maroon is also a pending UFA.  They won’t necessarily be as limited in terms of having to shop for players who will accept close to the league minimum although if they are able to land an impact center and either keep or replace DeBrusk, they will have to go bargain-hunting at some point.  The good news for them is that there will be plenty of players that will be in that price range.  They may not all sign quickly but Sweeney should be able to fill those spots.

On the back end, with Mason Lohrei showing that he’s ready for full-time NHL duty, the acquisition of Andrew Peeke at the trade deadline, and Parker Wotherspoon holding his own, they really only have to fill one spot even with Shattenkirk, Matt Grzelcyk, and Derek Forbort all heading for the open market.  As a result, they could target someone a little higher in price that could play in a fourth or fifth role.  It also wouldn’t be shocking to see an extra depth defender added to battle for the seventh spot.  Again, there are a lot of blueliners who fit into these buckets so they should be able to take care of this one fairly easily.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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