Once the Boston Bruins 2024-25 season ends, general manager Don Sweeney is going to have a long list of decisions to make. Some of those decisions will surround some prospects and who will remain in the organization or not. Some of them could also determine the future of some players on the NHL roster currently.
The Providence Bruins are having a good season and likely headed to the Calder Cup Playoffs in the American Hockey League (AHL), which will be good for some of the younger players to play in a postseason. Just how far they go will depend on a number of things, including their goaltending. One goalie has played so well this year that he's the top netminder in the AHL, which creates an interesting dilemma for the front office.
Michael Dipietro creates interesting off-season decision for Don Sweeney
This season, Michael DiPietro has been the best goalie in the AHL, hands down. He has a 23-8-9 record with the P-Bruins with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage with four shutouts. The 25-year-old has been very good, there is no doubt about it.
Now the question is, what does Sweeney end up doing? Acquired from the Vancouver Canucks along with defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg in 2022 in a deal that sent Jack Studnicka back to Western Canada. DiPietro creates a situation when it comes to cap space for Boston.
Last June, Sweeney traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators and in return, he took back the struggling Joonas Korpisalo. To his credit, Korpisalo has been much better this year working with Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa, but he carries a $3 million cap hit for the next three years. For a team with many needs this off-season, that's a lot of money tied up to your backup netminder, which was one of the reasons they traded Ullmark.
DiPietro is ready to be a full-time NHL backup and he'll be much cheaper than Korpisalo and give the front office some cap relief that they will desperately need. Now the question is, does Sweeney look to move Korpisalo and will his rebound season be enough for a team to take a chance with him? Buying him out would cost too much and moving him would make the most sense, opening a spot for the cheaper DiPietro. Decisions, decisions, decisions.