Linus Ullmark trade: analyzing pros and cons of the Bruins’ return originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The long-awaited Linus Ullmark trade has been completed.
Just minutes before Monday night’s Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins announced that they had traded Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, forward Mark Kastelic and a 2024 first-round draft pick (25th overall).
The Senators will also retain 25% of Korpisalo’s salary, which lowers his salary cap hit from $4 million to $3 million.
At first glance, the Bruins’ return of a Vezina-winning goaltender is a bit underwhelming, even though Ullmark only has one year left on his contract and reportedly doesn’t have an extension with the Senators at this point. However, the quality of this return will largely be determined by what the B’s do with the No. 25 pick and how they utilize the additional salary cap space created.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has a great business background. He consistently wins these deals. It is without a doubt the part of his work that he does best.
With that in mind, let’s look at the initial pros and cons of trading.
Pro: Getting a first-round pick
The Bruins haven’t picked in the first round in four of the last six drafts because they traded away too many recent selections. They entered Monday without a pick in the first three rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft. The B’s now have the 25th overall pick on Friday.
Fun fact: This pick originally belonged to the Bruins. They sent him to the Red Wings in the 2023 Tyler Bertuzzi trade. The Red Wings later traded him to the Senators as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade.
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The 2024 draft is seen by many experts as weaker than usual. However, the Bruins’ prospect pool is one of the worst in the league, especially after Matthew Poitras and Mason Lohrei made the jump to the NHL level last season. Boston’s system could really use an infusion of young talent, and if the Bruins keep the pick, they could add a talented player to the mix.
The Bruins could also use this pick as part of a trade to acquire a veteran who can help the team win in the short term. The first round of the 2024 draft is Friday, with rounds two through seven on Saturday afternoon, so Sweeney and his staff have some time to figure out what the Bruins will do with this pick.
Con: Joonas Korpisalo contract
Korpisalo was one of the worst goalkeepers in the league last season.
He had a 21-26-4 record with a mediocre .890 save percentage and a brutal 3.58 GAA. He ranked 97th out of 98 goalies in goals saved above expected (minus-16.7), by MoneyPuck. Jeremy Swayman (4th) and Ullmark (7th) both ranked in the top 10 in goals saved above expected.
To be fair, the Senators didn’t play very well against him, but they also ranked 15th in shots allowed and 22nd in scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5. It’s not like they were being dominated every night, but Korpisalo still struggled to produce. In fact, the B’s weren’t much better on these metrics. They ranked 18th in shots allowed and 17th in scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5, by natural statistics trick.
His contract is not friendly and does not expire anytime soon. Korpisalo is signed for three more seasons (through 2027-28) with a $3 million salary cap hit. A $3 million cap hit for an average or worse veteran goaltender isn’t great.
There are a few ways the Bruins could handle Korpisalo’s contract if they don’t want him to be their backup next season. Boston could bury him in the minors, which would open up $1.15 million in cap relief and a $1.85 million cap hit. They could buy it too. Doing this, according to CapFriendlywould leave the Bruins with a cap hit of $250,000 next season, $625,000 in 2025-26, $1.375 million in 2026-27, $1.75 million in 2027-28 and $1 million each year from 2028-29 to 2031-32.
The B’s could also trade Korpisalo and attach an asset (like a draft pick) to entice a team to take him. Negotiating him and retaining his salary is another option.
Perhaps the Bruins can help Korpisalo rediscover the form he showed in 2022-23 with the Columbus Blue Jackets, when he posted a .913 save percentage in 28 games. Bob Essensa is the best goaltending coach in the league and has gotten the best out of virtually every goaltender who has played for the Bruins over the last decade. But unless Korpisalo shows major improvements, this trade will put enormous pressure on Jeremy Swayman to not only play a lot of games, but also produce at a very high level.
The best-case scenario for the Bruins with Korpisalo is to turn him into a solid player in 2024-25 and then trade him for an asset (or just cap relief) next offseason.
Pro: Mark Kastelic could surprise
Don’t be surprised if Mark Kastelic gains the support of Bruins fans quickly. He plays the kind of hard-nosed, physical game that is appreciated in Boston. He’s 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds and isn’t afraid to go to the hard areas of the ice to win puck battles. Kastelic also has good speed – something the Bruins needed to add this offseason. He can also fight.
He will likely play a bottom-six role. He’s versatile enough to play center or right wing, which gives coach Jim Montgomery some options. Kastelic won’t light up the stat sheet offensively, but he can still provide decent scoring depth. The 25-year-old forward has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 63 games for Ottawa this season.
Kastelic is also very good at faceoffs, which will really help the Bruins after they went from second in faceoff win percentage in 2022-23 to No. 21 this season without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. He played in 349 face-offs last season and won 54.4 percent of them. Pavel Zacha led the B’s with a 54.8 faceoff percentage.
The Bruins are not committed long-term to Kastelic. He signed for one more season with a small salary cap hit of $835,000 and will be a restricted free agent next summer. He has the potential to be a useful low-cost player for Boston.
Con: Bruins received no premium assets from Senators
The Bruins gave up a goaltender who won the Vezina Trophy in 2023 and were unable to sign a young forward or defenseman who could play a significant role on next year’s team.
Shane Pinto is a 25-year-old center and restricted free agent for the Senators. He has much more offensive upside than Kastelic and would have been a better addition. Boston also failed to sign Jakob Chychrun, who is rumored to be available via trade and a legitimate top-four defenseman.
The Bruins also failed to get the best of the Senators’ first-round picks. The Senators held the No. 7 and No. 25 overall selections in this year’s draft. Boston acquired the latter.
If Ullmark had an extension with the Senators at the time of this trade, perhaps the Bruins could get a better return.
Con: Bruins almost had no salary cap space
Salary cap space is super valuable in a hard-cap league like the NHL. That said, the fact that the Bruins moved Ullmark and his $5 million cap hit only ended up creating $1.165 million more cap space as a result of that trade is pretty disheartening.
One of the main reasons why trading Ullmark made sense was to create additional space for the Bruins to pursue impact players in free agency or the trade market. The Bruins need a top-six center and a proven scorer on the wing. These types of players are expensive to acquire. They also need to re-sign Jeremy Swayman, who is expected to get a big raise after a stellar playoff run.
But the Bruins traded Ullmark for a small increase in cap space and took on Korpisalo’s bad contract, which lasts three more years.
There.
