Linus Ullmark traded to Ottawa for 1st rounder, Korpisalo, Kastelic

The Bruins get a 1st round pick, a depth guy…and a real question mark goaltender in exchange for Linus Ullmark.

Well. It’s definitely An Trade.

The Bruins announced today on the eve of Game 7 that they have traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, in exchange for the 25th overall pick in this year’s draft, Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic.

The 25th overall pick is something I can get behind. It is…technically a trade-back for a pick that was Boston’s to begin with, but there are plenty of decent players around that spot. It also means I need to start doing Draft Profiles here after a month of doing them for another site, so Don Sweeney I curse you for one thousand years for putting me on a time crunch.

Joonas Korpisalo is…a rough sell, on the other hand.

Of the league’s goaltenders, Joonas Korpisalo ended up being one of the worst in the league among players to start more than 30 games; finishing with an .890 SV%, a 21-26 record on 49 starts. They aren’t paying for all of his contract; Ottawa will retain 25% of it, but the next four years of a player who hasn’t lived up to the $4 million dollar AAV contract he’s been given sure gives the impression that Jeremy Swayman is gonna need to be the starter, and that he absolutely cannot get hurt. Best possible answer? Korpisalo rebounds hard after playing in a strong Bruins system and he can be flipped later on.

Otherwise, not super exciting at best…actively insane to only get like $2 million in cap savings at worst for a player who was next to unusable at the NHL level.

Finally, the last part of the deal; Mark Kastelic. Kastelic is a depth forward who has played 144 games in the NHL; all of them with Ottawa. He has 25 points and is a depth guy’s depth guy. Maybe he finds another gear in Boston; that magical Boston Bump tends to do wonders for some players.

Evolving-Hockey.com

Of course, what’s leaving isn’t something you can replace easily.

Linus Ullmark since coming to Boston has been an absolute joy to be around; just about everyone who’s covered him loves him, he’s played like a man possessed finishing his time with the Bruins with Jennings hardware, Vezina votes, a sterling reputation of steadiness…and was the start of a beautiful tradition of goalie hugs between Boston goaltenders. An actual changing of the guard moment for the team in net. A dudes rock moment the likes of which has catapulted both Swayman and Ullmark in equal measure into being the bromance of the century. People who ordinarily do not like the Bruins liked these two, and why not? They were fun.

Let’s hope Korpisalo is just as good at hugging.

For me personally, the only part of this I’m actually excited about is the 25th overall pick. I’m sure Kastelic will be serviceable depth and throw hits and whatnot, and they could pick a halfway decent player now that they get to be on the draft floor for night 1 in the sphere.

It’s just…man, that Korpisalo deal is gonna be hard to swallow. Coach Bob Essensa’s work is cut out for him here.

But for now, let’s all bid Linus Ullmark adieu for 3 years of fantastic service in Black and Gold, and welcome Joonas, Mark, and whoever they pick 25th overall!