From the opening of camp, management left no room for interpretation. The mandate was unmistakable, distilled into a single word: Playoffs.
Even with marquee names sidelined—Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt among them—the Bruins remain firmly in the playoff chase.
Beyond the Morgan Geekie surge, Jeremy Swayman has emerged as the other headline story—rebounding decisively from a disappointing 2024-25 campaign.
One name absent from that list: Joonas Korpisalo.
When the Bruins dealt Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, the return package proved questionable at the time. Mark Kastelic has excelled in his role and earned an extension, a first-round pick that became Dean Letourneau who, after being labeled a bust by some a year ago, is now enjoying a standout season at Boston College, and Korpisalo.
Fan reaction at the time was, for lack of a better word, mixed. Some labeled him the worst goaltender in hockey, while others believed Goaltending Coach Bob Essensa could repair his game. There was also talk about his vision, with the suggestion that once corrected, many of his struggles would disappear.
However, the 2024-25 season was far from successful for Korpisalo. Compounding matters, Swayman struggled as well, prompting Korpisalo to voice that he deserved more starts. General manager Don Sweeney later admitted he probably should have.
The numbers this season are undeniably poor, yet statistics alone don’t capture the full picture. Consider the October 9 matchup against Chicago: despite posting a .875 save percentage, Korpisalo was the difference-maker. Without his performance, the Bruins don’t come away with that win.
An argument can and has been made that Korpisalo elevates his game when tested with a heavier workload. This season, whenever he has faced fewer than thirty shots (6 of 11 starts), his save percentage has dipped below .890 with the exception of one, a 20 save performance in a 3-2 OT win against Ottawa on November 6. In games with more than thirty shots against, his numbers read .943, .925, .879 and .861—the latter two coming against the Ducks and Rangers, where circumstances made it difficult to fault his performance. Then there was the most recent start against St Louis where he stopped 37 of 39 for a .949 save percentage.
Korpisalo’s record is 5-6-0 giving the Bruins a points percentage of .456 and that is just not good enough, even for a backup goaltender. To make matters worse, only two of those five wins came in regulation, the other three in overtime.
The numbers defy logic, only adding to the growing sense of confusion.
The system Head Coach Marco Sturm has in place isn’t built to chase games, yet his club has been forced to do just that with costly early lapses. Too many first and early goals against have left valuable points on the table in a tight standings race, the product of slow starts and a group not always sharp at puck drop. And at times, it comes down to the simplest factor of all—getting a timely save.
The contrast in the team’s play depending on who’s in net is striking, as the group shows far more confidence when Swayman allows an early goal compared to Korpisalo. While the skaters must tighten up to give Korpisalo better support, the reality is that he also needs to elevate his game to provide the team with the stability it relies on from the crease.
If the Bruins are serious about making a playoff push, something needs to change. Among the fan base, the sentiment is clear: either trade Korpisalo and use the cap relief to bolster the roster, or assign him to Providence and give Michael DiPietro the call-up.
Perhaps Sweeney can recapture some of the trade-deadline magic he showed last season, but surveying the market suggests any move for Korpisalo by teams that could use help in the crease would be more lateral than transformative. That leaves the pressing question of how Boston addresses its backup situation—a storyline I will get to.
Breaking down the cap situation, Korpisalo’s $3 million AAV looms large, while a switch to DiPietro as the backup would come at $812,500—a savings of roughly $2.2 million. It’s a notable cut, but in the bigger picture, that margin doesn’t stretch far enough to provide significant reinforcements elsewhere on the roster.
If Sweeney were to engineer a trade, the likelihood is that a rival club would insist on sending a goaltender back to balance the roster or ease the cap crunch. Edmonton, often mentioned in speculation, has roughly $2 million in LTIR space with both players due back soon from LTIR, and could theoretically ship Stuart Skinner to Boston to help make the numbers work. Yet such a move would be lateral for the Oilers and, more importantly, fail to solve the Bruins’ pressing needs.
Swapping Korpisalo for DiPietro would offer only minimal cap relief, with a demotion freeing $1.15 million and DiPietro’s $812,500 hit trimming the savings to just $337,500. The push from fans, however, appears less about the financials and more about the belief that DiPietro gives Boston a stronger chance to win.
DiPietro’s athleticism and strong AHL numbers are undeniable, but there’s little evidence he’s ready to serve as a reliable NHL backup. While the opportunity hasn’t yet come his way, the reality is that one-third into the season isn’t the time for Boston to experiment. Should an injury arise, he may get his shot, but for now the risk outweighs the reward.
The Bruins’ best path forward may be to ride out the season with Korpisalo and hope he provides just enough to secure a playoff berth—where, ultimately, their fortunes will hinge on Swayman.
There is however, one change I would make.
Throughout the season, every team looks at their schedule and decides a game here and a game there is a scheduled loss and usually that game is in a back-to-back situation. Most teams still give that scheduled loss to their number one netminder and give the backup the other start. I would flip that and go for the guaranteed two points with such a tight race.
One example early in the season came during Boston’s six-game skid, when the club was forced to face Colorado and then Utah on back-to-back nights. With the Avalanche matchup marking their sixth game in 11 nights and the Mammoth tilt their seventh in 12, the schedule left Boston with little chance to escape unscathed, making the Colorado contest feel like a scheduled loss.
The Bruins opted to start Swayman in Colorado and Korpisalo in Utah, dropping both contests. Whether flipping the assignments would have changed the outcome is impossible to know, but the question lingers—why not give Swayman the Utah start, where two points may have been within reach and giving Korpisalo the scheduled loss?
There may be no single right answer, but it’s clear the status quo is unsustainable unless Korpisalo delivers with greater consistency, if the ultimate goal is the playoffs.
Dom - Hockey 