Boston Bruins Trade Linus Ullmark To The Ottawa Senators
The Boston Bruins traded goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, center Mark Kastelic, and a 2024 first-round pick.
The Senators will also retain 25 percent of Korpisalo’s $4 million annual salary cap hit through 2027-28. The Bruins are receiving the No. 25 pick in this year’s draft.
Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was speculated that Senators general manager Steve Staios had conversations with teams before the trade deadline that could lay the groundwork for offseason moves. It seems one of those lines of discussion paid off.
It was reported that the Senators attempted to acquire Ullmark before the March trade deadline by offering up Korpisalo. The Bruins declined because they couldn’t afford Korpisalo’s full cap hit.
The offseason and the rising salary cap changed the equation. The Senators still had to retain part of Korpisalo’s cap hit. However, it’s now easier for the Bruins to take him knowing the salary cap will rise significantly this summer and in the foreseeable future.
Staios wanted to improve the Senators goaltending. He’s picked up a big upgrade by landing the winner of the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy.
Ullmark won’t have the same caliber of defense in front of him in Ottawa as he did in Boston, If he can adjust (and if Staios can upgrade the blueline this summer) the Senators should be in good shape next season.
It’ll be interesting to see if Ullmark agrees to a contract extension with the Senators. He has a year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $5 million.
Korpisalo struggled in his first season with the Senators. He’ll get a chance for a fresh start with the Bruins. He better be prepared for a backup role as Jeremy Swayman is now the undisputed starter in Boston.
The Bruins also get back the first-round pick they originally traded to the Detroit Red Wings last year in the Tyler Bertuzzi deal. The Wings subsequently shipped that pick to Ottawa last summer in the Alex DeBrincat trade.
Kastelic spent the past three seasons as a checking-line forward for the Senators. He has a year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of over $821K.
George? Bruins fans?
Interesting deal…a lot to digest. For now, good job for both teams.
To say I’m surprised would be putting it mildly.
At least Pinto isn’t going the other way. Kastelic is an OK 4th line C and getting Boston to take Korpisalo (with 25% withheld) was obviously the key. The 25th pick could turn into something else for the Bruins.
Lyle, when you say “Ullmark won’t have the same caliber of defense in front of him in Ottawa as he did in Boston, If he can adjust (and if Staios can upgrade the blueline this summer) the Senators should be in good shape next season” THAT is a prerequisite of the highest order.
If Staios can now move Chychrun and Brannstrom and maybe even use the 7th pick the right way, he could make that D infinitely better (with big Tyler Kleven also part of the picture.
You have to think, too, that Anton Forsberg is also on the way out and that he will acquire a proven back-up type to spell Ullmark.
I really thought this would be a no-go and that they’d go again with Korpisalo (and a different back-up) while properly shoring up the defensive game, mainly because I thought the price would be too high to get Ullmark. But Korpisalo, with Kastelic and a low 1st round pick is not that high a price when all things are considered.
Now watch, Ullmark will become Matt Murray and Korpisalo will return to form. LOL.
Enhhh – back to the game 1-1 early in the 2nd
Damn – 2-1 Florida after 2. This is looking more nd more like the tight game you foresaw caper.
Could be an OT thriller!
Hey George..❗️
the only other Reason to Celebrate today my Other Team the Sen’s……👍
Got a REAL Starting Goaltender for next Season
Bruins trade goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Senators for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, center Mark Kastelic, A 2024 first-round pick, No. 25th pick over all… 👏 i dont think we gave up
to much hear, we just filled the biggest Hole 👍
So happy we got a #1 Starter in Net….
Staios Next move ( but ) i dont think we get a Good return for Chabott,…. So it looks like Chychrun that will be moved for a RD/man unless we go UFA shopping for 2nd pairing RD, Chris Tanev or a younger RD shutdown type❓
We use the 7th pick to get RDman Zayne Parekh
the offencive d/man…..
yes he is 2 years away but we are set in the top 4 for many years to come
Move out Brannstrom for a 2nd pick then
Dump Anton Forsberg & his $2.75M contract in a trade with Chychrun and a 2nd round pick,
then pick up a back up for 1 yr @$1.M.
if we cant get a RD, maybe we trade Chychrun for a top 10 Pick in this draft, flames wont trade there pick at 9, so looks like between #3 & #8 pick to get a good forward like a Cole Eiserman or young Iggy
As for Staios & Co , he is just getting started
re-shapping the team, it looks like a 2 year project 2024-5 to 2025-6 seasons👍
Thoughts, Ottawa did well, they got a good goalie for a one year rental, The key is if they can sign him long term. If not, not as good of a deal. But if they do, and he plays like his award winning season, a steal. Don’t like it for Boston, but the no-trade hurt them.
Yeah, according to the pundits, there is no chance of an extension when it becomes doable on July 1 as Ullmark indicates early on that he’ll see how things are going after next season.
Maybe that will change if Staios can continue to make significant changes up front and on the D over the next couple of weeks.
Actually, I take that back … not quite accurate – here’s what Garrioch has to say on that question in his column this morning:
“Though the Senators were hoping to have a contract extension in place before making the deal, that wasn’t the case and there have been no formal talks with Ullmark’s Sweden-based agent Joakim Persson.
The belief is the attention will turn to those talks in the coming days, and if it happens it will likely be north of $6 million per season. Ullmark had to wave his no-trade clause to come here, but is excited about the challenge of suiting up for the Senators.”
Let’s just wait and see.
Terrible trade by Bruins
Kastelic Probably takes Maroon’s place … Korpisalo is a bad goalie with to many years left on contract.. 25th draft pick is a crap shoot .. rather just the draft pick and use the Ullmark $$$ on a need ..
I am not understanding why some think this is a bad deal for Boston. How much was Ullmark going to play next season when he is now clearly behind Swayman? Outside of Ullmark himself who has a better backup in the east than Korpisalo and at a reduced cost? The first round pick could not only produce something, it also saves cap space. Picking up a replacement for Maroon also didn’t hurt.
The absolute worst thing I can see is that Staios unloaded a horrible contract in Korpisalo. She’d one year of Kastelic which goes toward Pinto’s big raise and only lost a first round pick that wasn’t even theirs haha.
If ullmark walks after a year so be it. Then he was a stop gap that still helped the Senators figure things out.
If this is an example of what Staios can pull off…I’m not upset at all.
Agree theSaint.
Whereas before the trade CapFriendly showed them with just over $12 mil in cap space, right now the figure is $11,300,953 when factoring in all the moves.
As is, that’s more than enough to sign RFA Pinto along with Kelly and possibly Katchouk (have no idea as to what their thinking is re the latter).
Dead cap in coming seasons will include the $1 mil per in the Korpisalo withhold (4 years), $625,000 next season for the Colin White buy-out, then 3 years at $875,000 per, and if Hamonic ($1.1 mil) is bought out his cost will be $366,667 for 2 years. So, roughly $2.241,667 per for 4 years. In other words, a decent 3rd/4th line F or 5/6 D.
But of course, Staios is not finished. One D spot will be filled by Kleven and his ELC deal, and you can almost bet Chychrun and his $4.6 mil hit and Forsberg and his $2,750,000 hit will be moving along in the coming weeks. Who comes back … and at what cost off the cap … still to be determined.
Lots of fodder for discussion.
I should add that RFA Brannstrom is likely gone as well – if not through a trade then with the team not qualifying him, turning him into a UFA.
Supposedly goalie Brandon Bussi is out of options and Bruins don’t believe he’d clear waivers when sent back to the AHL. Korpisalo can now be offered up for $2M if Bs retain salary. Would someone bite?
AKbender
This is exactly what I am thinking.
Only hitch is that the Bruins have to retain that salary for 3 seasons…not insurmountable but every $1M is important when up against the cap.
Re; Trade
I think Sen’s RFA Brannstrom go’s with part of a Chychrun deal to a team like Uhta for there 6th pick over all and something else coming back the other way…..❓
They only have one d/man in there top 4 for next year so far…
You can only do so much with stock pill’s of
picks……🤔
I think we see the same Ullmark that we saw in Buffalo. Korisalo with a good team defence in front of him is a better goalie at a cheaper price. The first rounder is all gravy for Boston. This deal could be a real stinker for Staios.
doktordave, his 3 years up full time with the Sabres weren’t that bad considering they were well into the throes of what are now 13 years out of the playoffs and with a defense that was only a rumor:
2018-19 37gp 3.11gaa 0.905 save %
2019-20 34gp 2.69gaa 0.915 save %
2029-21 20gp 2.63gaa 0.917 save %
My thinking all along has been to concentrate on giving Korpisalo a better overall defensive structure in front of him which would include an improved pk. Now we’ll get a chance to see how that plays out with just such a defensive component in Boston.
As for Staios, let’s wait until we see what other moves he has to that very end before passing final judgement. More trades are coming.
Re the 25th pick – recent history shows, if kept and used, that the odds are against anyone chosen there showing themselves to be journeymen types at best:
2015 – Jack Roslovic; 2016 – Riley Tuft; 2017 – Ryan Poehling; 2018 – Dominik Bokk; 2019 – Connor McMichael; 2020 – Justin Barron; 2021 – Carson Ceulemans
Too early to assess 2022 – 2023 picks at that spot.
This is an absolute risk. It really was an “ok” deal for both. Bruins weren’t playing this guy, and couldn’t afford to pay him. Sens get a “show me” season for late first round pick and a 4th liner who wins face offs. Oh and they dump Korpisalo…who I didn’t think was THAT bad. Team defense and coaching needs to change in Ottawa.
Team defence is changing. Yeo is a defence first coach and I think he’ll help solidifying the structure if Staois can help reinforce the right side defence. I think chychrun will probably go to do that. Not sure they’ll let Branstrom walk. I like his game but he’s a bit small. I think Staois wants to be bigger and badder on the back line.
Considering people were talking about having to give up a first just to get out from Korpisalo contract this is a win right there. Hopefully Sens have a good summer and early season and ullmark decides to stay long term.
The Bruins are fools for taking Korpi and his contract in this deal. The entire focus of this move was to create cap space so that the Bs could find a top six forward. Why in the hell do you include an over-paid bag-o-pucks in the deal? They were better off keeping Ullmark until something better came along.
Sweeney is a moron.Stop handing out ntc,nmc’s.If I’m paying 5 mil a year your going where I want to send you.For the most value I can get.Thats only for players of elite talent.Just like the 2015 draft everything he touches turns to crap.Why didn’t Neely say “NO Way”.PERIOD.What th
ese hell is wrong with these people.Its time to revamp the front office.My sister could have made a enter deal.
Just glad he’s notto Detroit. Detroit.
Decent trade all around. I think Koripsalo could very easily have his best statistical season playing in Boston. He is not as bad as least year I expect a bounce back. Bussi is in a 2 way contract so He should be able to be sent down I believe correct me if I am wrong.
I believe Bussi is out of options! NHL ,the waiver wire which Boston doesn t want or bust!They would lose him on waivers to another team! With his contract being so small they can t let that happen!
That’s confirmed in this article Sr where they say “A new factor this season is that Bussi will require waivers to be sent down to Providence if he does not make the NHL roster out of training camp. Given his strong performances over the past two seasons, there is a significant risk that another team might claim him off waivers. This adds an element of uncertainty to his situation, as the Bruins will need to carefully manage their goaltending assets to ensure they do not lose a promising player like Bussi without getting a return.”
https://thereportonsports.com/boston-bruins-sign-brandon-bussi-to-one-year-two-way-contract-extension/
With Bussi signed it looks to me Bruins will look to make a trade including Korpisalo ,and the 25 th pick! Find a team that is consumed with first round picks and go after them!Teams at the bottom of the standings like SJ,Columbus, Chicago,Anaheim,Buffalo! Bruins can retain a million to help soften the blow!
Don’t forget that Korpi still has a M-NTC, so it’s not like Boston can now flip him anywhere they feel like.
Ullmark had one too! Never say never!
I don”t like the trade for the Bruins, but I think the lack of extension regarding Ulmark hurt what the Bruins could get for him. I read in one article that he was looking for $35m over 5 years to sign in Ottawa, and then a couple of days later he says that he is not going to sign, at least right away, and see how the year goes, which to me says that Ottawa got word to him that they were lukewarm to such a contract. Also some other players mentioned may not have been what Sweeney was looking for. Chychrun’s +/- was really bad and while seeming having all the tools, he was not a decisive factor on the ice for the Sens. With one year left on his contract, Sweeney may have not have liked the look of what it would take to extend him versus his actual value. Then there is Pinto, and the question of how good is he. When returning from his suspension, he seemed to hit the ice running and was a real factor, but then he too cooled to get 27 points in 41 games. I think in factoring his production downward with more games he played, he projects to more of a 45 to 50 point center. Not bad but again his contract expectations are high too so the concern is overpaying for a center who is not really better than Coyle or Zacha. As such, I could see Sweeney not pushing too hard for Chychrun or Pinto, but I would have liked to see more in return than what he got. Regarding Korpisalo, I think he gets traded after the first few weeks of free agency when the few ok-ish UFA goalies are signed and some clubs are left looking for another goalie option (candidate clubs include Washington, Calgary, Anaheim if Gibson gets traded). I think Bussi will be backing up Swayman this year, and Sweeney knows he will loose him on waivers if he tries to send him down at the end of training camp.
As I diehard Bruin fan in Don I trust I believe he has a plan personally I think he will move Korpisalo he is way better than people give him credit. 3 million is low for a goalie and for many teams he is an upgrade. Bruins need a top centre Leon Draisaitl would be nice I can dream can’t I