The Boston Bruins had one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL last season. Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark both told general manager Don Sweeney they each wanted to start 55 games for the Bruins during the 2024-25 campaign. With only 82 games in the regular season, the math just doesn’t allow that to happen, so Boston traded Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators with a return package that included Joonas Korpisalo.
It’s been well-documented that Korpisalo’s numbers were not good in Ottawa last season, but Bruins’ play-by-play voice Judd Sirott listed a multitude of reasons the netminder posted a .890 save percentage and a 3.27 goals-against average.
“I think you are going to see a very different Joonas Korpisalo,” Sirott told Adam Pellerin on the debut episode of NESN’s “The Hockey Hub” podcast. “… He went through an ownership change, a GM change, a coaching change, a number of different key injuries, and they were missing a number of key players for the Ottawa Senators last year.”
Sirott continued: “So, I think it was going to very difficult for that team to win games last year, and ultimately, they missed the playoffs. This is a completely different situation and a much more stable situation with a far different foundation, a far different structure, and to take it one step further, the expectations are drastically different.
“… So, I think, I almost want to take last year’s numbers and put an asterisk on because I think they’re going to look drastically different playing here.”
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The Bruins will get their first look at Korpisalo between the pipes on Opening Night when Boston takes on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Hear more of Sirott and Pellerin’s conversations on the upcoming Bruins season on “The Hockey Hub” on YouTube and Spotify.
Featured image via Sam Navarro/Imagn Images
