Bruins Sign Gritty Forward to Three-Year Contract Extension

When the Boston Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators last June, the return was not as big as fans would have hoped. GM Don Sweeney acquired goalie Joonas Korpisalo, forward Mark Kastelic, and a 2024 first-round Draft pick.

The returns for the Bruins have been good with Korpisalo settling and playing better this season than he did last season with the Senators. He is still owed three years with a $3 million AAV after Ottawa retained a million. Kastelic has been a pleasant surprise for the Bruins this season in their bottom six and was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming summer, Sweeney wasted little time in locking up the 25-year-old Arizona native.

Bruins sign Mark Kastelic to three-year contract extension

The Bruins are currently in Toronto getting ready for an Original Six matchup with the Maple Leafs on Saturday night, but Friday afternoon, the team announced that they signed Kastelic to a three-year contract extension with an AAV of $1.567 million.

Selected in the fifth round of the 2019 Entry Draft by Ottawa, Kastelic has played in all 39 games this season for Boston with four goals and 11 assists. A lot of the production was done early in the year when he was on the fourth line with John Beecher and Cole Koepke and with the struggles with the top nine in October and part of November, that line kept the Black and Gold's heads above water in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

What this signing means long-term with the bottom six remains to be seen, but this extension could mean the end of the line soon for Trent Frederic in Boston. Already generating some trade chatter, the former first-round pick has struggled this year and is scheduled to become a free agent following the season, it's unlikely that the Bruins would re-sign him and end up moving him before the trade deadline in March. It appears committing to Kastelic is one sign that more moves in the bottom six might be coming for the long haul.