Going into free agency on Wednesday, there were questions surrounding the Boston Bruins and what general manager Don Sweeney would do to address his needs. Boston acquired JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth last Friday night for a pair of first-round draft picks.
However, addressing the need for a right-shot defenseman and a top-six center was unlikely to be done through free agency. Instead, attacking that was going to have to be through a trade. That is what Sweeney did, acquiring Will Borgen from the New York Rangers for two draft picks.
Speaking of the Rangers, that wasn't the only deal the Black and Gold did with the Blueshirts on Wednesday. In fact, Sweeney did what some fans thought might have been the impossible: he traded goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
Don Sweeney explains the reasoning for the Bruins trading Joonas Korpisalo to the Rangers
Shortly after free agency began, Sweeney sent Joonas Korpisalo to the Rangers for a prospect and a draft pick. That was not a bad return, but getting the Rangers to eat Korpisalo's $3 million AAV is the bigger winner of the deal. That frees up pivotal cap space that it appears that Boston might use later on.
After free agency was completed, Sweeney met with the media and explained the reason for trading Korpisalo after he spent two years in Boston after coming over as part of a deal that sent Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators.
“We’ve gone through these periods; Vladar is an NHL goalie,'' said Sweeney. "Brandon Bussi won a Stanley Cup. We feel really confident Michael is ready for this.”
That seems like Sweeney is subtly saying that he messed up with Dan Vladar and Brandon Bussi leaving. No, he'll never admit that. However, in the bigger picture, this needed to be done. Sure, moving Korpisalo's $3 million is a big reason as to why, but also, the Bruins couldn't afford to put DiPietro on waivers at the beginning of next season, as someone would claim him.
If there is one thing that Boston has plenty of going into 2026-27 is an overload of goalies and defensemen. There will likely need to be more moves made in terms of trades, but one player who needed to be moved was Korpisalo.
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