Confirmed Trade: [OTT/BOS] Linus Ullmark for Mark Kastelic, Joonas Korpisalo (25% retained), 2024 BOS 1st round pick

[TheNumber4]

Which is why they give up so many odd man rushes and scoring chances....

Well odd man wouldn’t be the fault of zone. Maybe a lack of awareness by the defenceman on pinches.

 

[burstnbloom]

Well, for starters, the Peeke deal is fine even if it was viewed as an overpay at the time. He's a really solid defender and still has upside. The Bruins missed him against FLA.

Secondly, if Sweeney only had one dance partner and Ullmark isn't extending in OTT, there's not much else he can do but take what Staios is willing to pay, unless he walks away at which point fans would flame him anyway.

So, while I am disappointed, most if that has to do with having unrealistic expectations for a better package and having no control over the outcome. Atrocious is too strong a word, especially if there were only two possible outcomes and neither of their were ideal. Sweeney had the deal to LA and Ullmark snuffed it...so, dang, it;s not like he didn't put in the effort.

Lastly, they have the draft and then July 1 - so this story isn't over yet.

The issue is Peeke has been a below replacement level player his entire career and is being paid close to $3m for multiple years. There is close to zero chance he returns value on that bloated contract.

I did not have unrealistic expectations for an ullmark trade. The issue comes from acquiring one of the worst assets in the league to facilitate the trade.

5.75m for below replacement level performance. Thats $4m too much. I realize the story isnt over yet, but what in his track record makes you think that Don Sweeney is creative and aggressive enough to take this team from a below average 5v5 hockey club with great goalies to an above average one with one great goalie? This is a poor first step.

 

[Patdud]

another thing is if Ullmark just puts up a 91% save percentage and Forsberg like 90.5%, that'll already significantly improve our standings, even if we somehow score the exact same amount of goals as in 2023-2024. If Ullmark has a 91.5% save percentage or miraculously has a 2022-2023 performance, Ottawa is laughing in riches.

And if korpisalo has a .905 and wins 15/20 of 30 starts or backups are signing for 3 mil plus after the cap goes up then this isn’t as bad on Boston either.

Just don’t know how the bruins didn’t end up with the 12th OA or a prospect out of this for taking the contract on. Just bad asset management which is a toxic organizational trait.

A poster on the bruins board put it best, the bruins treated korpisalo as a positive value asset not a negative one.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

The issue is Peeke has been a below replacement level player his entire career and is being paid close to $3m for multiple years. There is close to zero chance he returns value on that bloated contract.

I did not have unrealistic expectations for an ullmark trade. The issue comes from acquiring one of the worst assets in the league to facilitate the trade.

5.75m for below replacement level performance. Thats $4m too much. I realize the story isnt over yet, but what in his track record makes you think that Don Sweeney is creative and aggressive enough to take this team from a below average 5v5 hockey club with great goalies to an above average one with one great goalie? This is a poor first step.

Agreed 100% regarding Peeke. Can't understand what people see with him at 2.75M
and now adding Korpisalo its SOS with Sweeney.

 

[Son of Donegal]

The issue is Peeke has been a below replacement level player his entire career and is being paid close to $3m for multiple years. There is close to zero chance he returns value on that bloated contract.

I did not have unrealistic expectations for an ullmark trade. The issue comes from acquiring one of the worst assets in the league to facilitate the trade.

5.75m for below replacement level performance. Thats $4m too much. I realize the story isnt over yet, but what in his track record makes you think that Don Sweeney is creative and aggressive enough to take this team from a below average 5v5 hockey club with great goalies to an above average one with one great goalie? This is a poor first step.

While the trade was bewildering at the time, Peeke has already shown he is better than his last two seasons in CBJ with Boston. If he picks up where he left off, he'll play an important role locking down the RD3. As a big, physical, somewhat mobile right shot D, he will have value in BOS and across the league if BOS decides to trade him. Forbort just came off the books and was making $3m. Peeke makes $2.75 and I think he is going to be a lot better than Forbort. I really do. And...let's face it...they got him for a 3rd.

As for Korpisalo, I am not going to fight you. There is a very good chance he contuinues to stink with Boston. There is also a chance he finds his game with goalie Bob. But if he doesn't, they can bury him in PRO or buy him out. Neither option is ideal - but at the end of the day, the impact of his contract can be mitigated.

As for what Sweeney does with the rest of the roster, if he acquires Lindholm, that is a very big step in the right direction.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[jellybeans]

What a great trade for Ottawa

 

[Terrier]

Surprised they didn't use one of the many pics of Swayman and Ullmark doing their postgame hug tradition.

Gotta say I'm gonna miss seeing that.

 

[CornerStone61]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1805989439966994829

 

[wintersej]

Well odd man wouldn’t be the fault of zone. Maybe a lack of awareness by the defenceman on pinches.

They struggled with neutral zone coverage the first half of the year. A lot of centers not being back in position and the defense being too far forward. They were able to play more on their toes than their heels the year before with the talent difference of Bergeron, Krejci and Hall and had some adjustments to make. They had worse expected goal numbers than Ottawa up until about February, but the last third of the season they were solidly in the upper half of the league and Ottawa was bottom five.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1805989439966994829

Yeah that’s why he didn’t want to leave. Real family man. Like a really good person.

 

[bert]

And if korpisalo has a .905 and wins 15/20 of 30 starts or backups are signing for 3 mil plus after the cap goes up then this isn’t as bad on Boston either.

Just don’t know how the bruins didn’t end up with the 12th OA or a prospect out of this for taking the contract on. Just bad asset management which is a toxic organizational trait.

A poster on the bruins board put it best, the bruins treated korpisalo as a positive value asset not a negative one.

But honestly how. He was the worst goaltender in the league by every statistical category and the eye test not only matched but it hammers it home. He let in the first or second shot like 14 times. Constant back breaking goals at horrible times. Yes he is talented the eye test says that but he is a mental midget. He breaks out of his stance or over plays a puck for no reason.

First game of the year the sens battled back against Carolina to tie it on the road down 2. He lets in the next shot from the point over his blocker shoulder he tried to catch. I knew right away this guy is a big mistake.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

You never know how these things will work out, but at first blush this seems like a slam dunk for Ottawa. Ullmark is an excellent goalie, and Korpisalo was godawful last season every time I saw him.

Needed goaltending, and you got it.

 

[Sens9292]

So now Korpisalo is Vezina goalie and Ullmark a Korpisalo, how things can change quickly.

People just upset or confused that Ottawa was able to get Ullmark for cheap and rid themselves of a bad goalie and horrible contract. Enjoy the win.

 

[bb_fan]

Well odd man wouldn’t be the fault of zone. Maybe a lack of awareness by the defenceman on pinches.

its not about fault.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

But honestly how. He was the worst goaltender in the league by every statistical category and the eye test not only matched but it hammers it home. He let in the first or second shot like 14 times. Constant back breaking goals at horrible times. Yes he is talented the eye test says that but he is a mental midget. He breaks out of his stance or over plays a puck for no reason.

First game of the year the sens battled back against Carolina to tie it on the road down 2. He lets in the next shot from the point over his blocker shoulder he tried to catch. I knew right away this guy is a big mistake.

I was always heavily against him being our target even before that dreadful contract announcement dropped, but it really is unbelievable how quickly he showed to be an issue. Like you said, bad feelings from game 1 and was evident within the first week to 10 days that he was an albatross contract. Then he re-enforced it throughout the year.

I wish the guy all the best in Boston, but anyone pretending Ottawa's defense was to blame for Korpisalo's poor season was not paying attention. Neither were particularly good, but Korpisalo stunk last year. Looking at his resume, he also stunk the 2 years prior to his LA outlier season. He needs to prove he can at least be a capable backup this year.

 

[The don godfather]

What a great trade for Ottawa

How ? Linus is there only for 1 year. They paid a price for a rental from what I'm seeing here.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

How ? Linus is there only for 1 year. They paid a price for a rental from what I'm seeing here.

By getting out of Korpisalo's contract. Assumption was it was gonna need to be bought out, or this price paid to dump it. Ottawa wanted out from under it as a priority and now they can test drive a substantially more proven Ullmark that doesn't have below league average stats 3 of the last 4 seasons with 4 years of costly term attached.

And an extension is obviously still a possibility and something the org will likely push hard for.

 

[The don godfather]

By getting out of Korpisalo's contract. Assumption was it was gonna need to be bought out, or this price paid to dump it.

And an extension is obviously still a

By getting out of Korpisalo's contract. Assumption was it was gonna need to be bought out, or this price paid to dump it.

And an extension is obviously still a possibility and something the org will likely push hard for.

These days 2 to 3 million for a backup is a reasonable price. His contract isnt that bad. If korpi plays 25 games and holds the fort . Excellent trade for a guy who wants to test free agency .

 

[DFF]

The precedent for a goalie was set by the Markstrom deal

A 1st
A fringe player or B prospect
Some kind of retention

You may or may not like the player or the retention but frame work is same

 

[HBK27]

I thought Boston would get more. Not that they did not get anything. I guess the 1st is the key

I thought they would as well, so this is a good deal for Ottawa.

My (albeit limited) read on this situation is that Ullmark likely set up his 16 team no-trade list in a way that would make it very difficult for Boston to trade him to a team without him waiving his NTC. Not very difficult to do if you set it up so that only teams that would have very little interest in trading for him (those already with #1 goalies and/or that are up against the cap) among those 15 that he could be traded to without waiving his NTC. Just off the top of my head, you could include NYR, NYI, TB, FLA, WIN, DAL, NSH, STL, VAN, VGK, CAL - that's 11 right there.

Ottawa, as we know, was not among those on his no trade list - probably because they had just signed Korpisalo to a massive 5 year, $20 contract last offseason shortly before he had to submit his list of no-trade teams for this upcoming season. So, didn't seem likely that they'd be in the running for a goalie anytime soon.

Ullmark seemed to really like playing in Boston and I think would've been fine staying there again this season and becoming a UFA next summer. I think that he probably wanted to have an extension (at least in principle, since he can't sign until July 1st) in place before waiving for any teams on his no trade list. Understandably, he was probably asking for a lot (in term and/or AAV) in order to do so, particularly given the number of teams looking for goaltending. Friedman mentioned that this was one of the potential hang-ups in an Ullmark deal.

After Markstrom and Kuemper were dealt (the latter not really thought to be in the offseason goalie carousal mix), there were probably limited teams with serious interest - maybe Ottawa, Detroit and Toronto. The latter two were surely on his no trade list given their uncertainty in goal, so maybe there was some talk about what an extension might look like with those teams that might've scared them off a bit or hampered a deal. Seeing that it would be difficult to get Ullmark to agree to an extension before being traded and that he was not going to waive without one, Boston took the best (only realistic) offer on the table from Ottawa as they were the only team with serious interest that he didn't have to waive for. Sens roll the dice a bit that they can get him extended (which I ultimately think they get done) and the rest is history.

A decent amount of speculation on my part in all this, but it makes sense to me.

 

[wintersej]

You never know how these things will work out, but at first blush this seems like a slam dunk for Ottawa. Ullmark is an excellent goalie, and Korpisalo was godawful last season every time I saw him.

Needed goaltending, and you got it.

Yeah the only thing that wouldn't make it a slam dunk is if he never signs a new deal. He wouldn't sign one before the deal which made the return for Boston (much) worse than the rumors were looking like.

Totally his right. I would do the same thing. Why commit without trying it on first if you have the chance?

But, it means that if things go sour in Ottawa again this season, it could be another Duchene/DeBrincat situation.

But the fact that they got rid of Korpisalo anyway makes it sting WAY less than last season.

Boston obviously thinks they can rehab Korpisalo. But, just seems like a real risk just to net you 2 million in cap space and late 1st in a shallow draft.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

@The don godfather

Sure, the cost of a backup is getting higher, but the problem is his stats haven't backed that up. He's been poor by backup standards for 3 of the last 4 seasons, so saying he can "hold the fort" is just hollow words to an Ottawa fan. I hope the best for him, seems like a good guy, but there's no argument that he wasn't a negative asset that we wanted to punt for free if possible. Whatever he is to Boston is between Boston and him, but we wanted/needed him gone and Staios apparently did too as he said priority 1 was upgrade goaltending. His salary also stood in the way of that addition, theoretically, so it made a lot of sense.

He has had an average to below average career in general. To me, him being a positive contributor, at his salary, is something he needs to prove next year and is by no means a sure bet.

 

[The don godfather]

@The don godfather

Sure, the cost of a backup is getting higher, but the problem is his stats haven't backed that up. He's been poor by backup standards for 3 of the last 4 seasons, so saying he can "hold the fort" is just hollow words to an Ottawa fan. I hope the best for him, seems like a good guy, but there's no argument that he wasn't a negative asset that we wanted to punt for free if possible. Whatever he is to Boston is between Boston and him, but we wanted/needed him gone and Staios apparently did too as he said priority 1 was upgrade goaltending. His salary also stood in the way of that addition, theoretically, so it made a lot of sense.

He has had an average to below average career in general. To me, him being a positive contributor, at his salary, is something he needs to prove next year and is by no means a sure bet.

If korpi finds that mojo that he had with Columbus this might be a landslide victory for bruins especially with our solid goaltending coaching team who did wonders for linus. The 1st round pick might become a player and kastelic might be quite useful in the 4th line. Heard hes a tough kid. If linus leaves after a year in Ottawa it's a no brainer.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

If korpi finds that mojo that he had with Columbus this might be a landslide victory for bruins especially with our solid goaltending coaching team who did wonders for linus. The 1st round pick might become a player and kastelic might be quite useful in the 4th line. Heard hes a tough kid. If linus leaves after a year it's a no brainer.

What "mojo" did he have in Columbus? The guy has arguably been "good" in 3 of his 9 seasons in the league. The rest were bad or average at best.

Regardless, there's no argument he wasn't a massive negative asset for Ottawa. We were just on the verge of having to give him the Jack Campbell treatment or pay something like this cost to move him. Or the buyout option that sucked but was reasonable enough. He was a negative asset to Ottawa and the statistics back that up. Boston is taking a flyer on him and he needs to prove he can be a capable backup.

Kastelic is fine, but was identified by the new management group as someone they wanted to move. He should fit in fine. Dime a dozen really.

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

If korpi finds that mojo that he had with Columbus this might be a landslide victory for bruins especially with our solid goaltending coaching team who did wonders for linus. The 1st round pick might become a player and kastelic might be quite useful in the 4th line. Heard hes a tough kid. If linus leaves after a year in Ottawa it's a no brainer.

What you're missing Don is at the time of the trade, Ottawa has already won their end of it.

Boston needs a lot of things to break right on their end of the deal for this to look even.