Don Sweeney Offers Insight Into New Bruins Forward Mark Kastelic

Even though the Bruins and Senators trade focused on goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Joonas Korpisalo, Boston picked up a significant piece to solidify its bottom-six forward group.

Mark Kastelic is a physical, heavy player who has a history of blowing up opponents with big hits. Last season, he ranked fifth in hits (126) and second in faceoffs (54.4%) in 63 games for Ottawa.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney offered his thoughts on acquiring Kastelic during his media availability Thursday while in Las Vegas for the 2024 NHL Draft, which begins Friday night.

“We’re happy to add another right shot. He’s well above 50% in his faceoffs — an area where we got a little bit wonky in the later part of the playoffs,” Sweeney told reporters, per team-provided video. “During the course of the year, we did a really good job, but you can always use that.

“He can play both center and wing. (Which means he) probably toggles pretty well with Johnny (Beecher) in that case. … We’re going to build in penalty killing as we’ve always referenced our bottom-six guys. … I think that’s important for those players to continue to grow in that regard. (He) brings an element of toughness that we value, and he’s really excited to be a Boston Bruin.”

In 144 games for the Senators, Kastelic lit the lamp 14 times and added 11 assists while averaging 8:25 minutes of ice time. Sweeney said he doesn’t want to pigeonhole the 25-year-old forward into one role.

“Look at Justin Brazeau this year; he kept working on his game, so I don’t think anybody will put (Kastelic) in a shoebox to say, ‘Well, he’s just this,'” Sweeney said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to put him into our mix. We’re going to get him acclimated to our system. I think we know where he’ll start, but that doesn’t mean that’s not where he can’t climb up to get higher in the lineup and provide things that he would like.”

Before being drafted by Ottawa in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft, Kastelic played five seasons with the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL, where he amassed 126 goals and 109 assists in 321 games.

“He scored at the minor league level. He scored really well at the lower levels of hockey,” Sweeney said. “So, let’s see where it translates. Let’s get him in. Get him acclimated. Get him comfortable and know that he’s a welcomed addition to our organization.”