When the Boston Bruins traded goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators during the offseason, the team made a statement that they had faith in Jeremy Swayman to be the full-time starter. Despite this, the team needed some experience behind Swayman to help keep him fresh and allow him to comfortably play somewhere in the realm of 55 games. This is why the team took a flier on Joonas Korpisalo, who had struggled since joining the Senators and hadn’t found much success in the NHL outside of his rookie season with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the 2022-23 season split between Columbus and the Los Angeles Kings.
With Brandon Bussi deemed as a possible NHL-ready candidate heading into the season, the addition of Korpisalo was a perplexing one, especially given the salary cap restraints this would put on the Bruins. Through training camp and the preseason, however, it became apparent that Korpisalo was better suited for the role than Bussi, who has struggled so far in the AHL, holding a 1-4-0 record with a 4.09 goals-against average and .860 save percentage in five games.
Bussi is a good goalie who will almost certainly find his way to the NHL one day, but as it stands, he’s currently being outplayed by Michael DiPietro in Providence as the 25-year-old from Windsor, Ontario has a 5-2-0 record with a sterling 1.70 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. If one of these goalies were to be recalled today for whatever reason, it would probably be DiPietro. Ultimately, while Bussi excelled in the AHL last season, Korpisalo’s NHL experience outweighed the uncertainty of potential.
So far, Korpisalo’s experience has proven worth the risk through six games.
In six games, Korpisalo has a 3-2-0 record (he came in to relieve Swayman against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 31, but the loss was credited to Swayman), with a 2.72 goals-against average and .900 save percentage. To put that in perspective, Swayman has a 4-5-2 record with a 3.13 goals-against average and .896 save percentage, while Ullmark in Ottawa has a 3-4-0 record with a 2.87 goals-against average and .890 save percentage. Korpisalo’s numbers may not be star-caliber, but they’re serviceable enough for a backup—especially considering Swayman’s own early-season inconsistencies.
Korpisalo’s Role an Important One for the Bruins
While there’s been an adjustment period for the Bruins this season, and many players (along with the team as a whole) have struggled to meet the consistent expectations of a contender, Korpisalo has actually exceeded early expectations. The veteran netminder isn’t in Boston to steal jobs and he probably isn’t going to be regularly tasked with stealing games. Instead, his job is to spell Swayman after a few games and allow him to rest before reclaiming his spot on the bench.
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It’s an incredibly important job in the NHL and also a difficult one given the fact that goaltenders typically do best when they’re warm and can find a rhythm; by only playing one or two games at the most every week, Korpisalo isn’t consistently being tested and finding that rhythm. The Bruins have been spoiled in recent years with goaltending, but they’ve now found themselves back in the normal setup that the vast majority of teams operate within. To Korpisalo’s credit, he’s probably playing as well as the Bruins could have possibly hoped for given the circumstances and given his forgettable 2023-24 campaign.
The Bruins will continue to lean on Swayman for the majority of their games, and though things aren’t looking good for the team as a whole right now, it seems likely that they’ll find their rhythm. When the Bruins hit their stride, Korpisalo’s steadiness as a backup could become a crucial x-factor in their playoff push as the team aims to once again compete for the Stanley Cup.