After the Boston Bruins were eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Buffalo Sabres in early May, there were a lot of questions facing general manager Don Sweeney. There is no doubt that despite making the postseason, there needed to be some roster turnover.
Just how he would go about doing that was the big question. There were going to be trades made, but there was also free agency and internal options that could help build out the 2026-27 roster for second-year coach Marco Sturm.
One of the players who had questions surrounding them was goalie Joonas Korpisalo. Acquired from the Ottawa Senators in June of 2024, as part of the trade that sent Linus Ullmark to Boston's Atlantic Division foe. After not playing much in his first season in Boston, he got just a little more playing time this past season, but there was no doubt that he was blocking prospect Michael DiPietro. In order to get DiPietro up from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL), Korpisalo needed to be moved.
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That ended up being the case as Sweeney shipped Korpisalo to the New York Rangers in a July 1 trade. It opens the door for Korpisalo to be Jeremy Swayman's backup. Part of the reason is that DiPietro would need to clear waivers to get to the AHL, and he likely wouldn't clear before a team scooped him up. Trent Whitfield, who was introduced as the P-Bruins' next head coach, is a strong supporter of DiPietro.
Providence Bruins coach Trent Whitfield gives strong support for Michael DiPietro
Whitfield is sliding over from being an assistant coach to being the next Providence head coach. At his press conference, he spoke about some young Black and Gold players, including DiPietro, who had a tremendous 2025-26 AHL season.
"I have no concerns with Mike,” said Whitfield, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. “He’s going to do a great job in the NHL. He’s ready to go now. He’s outgrown the American League, and it’s time for him to take a job up there.”
Boston fans who have been paying attention would agree that DiPietro is NHL-ready. Let's face it, he is a cheaper option than Korpsialo, which in itself is another reason to make the move Sweeney did. This past season for the P-Bruins, DiPietro was 34-8-1 with a 1.91 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage with three shutouts. That's coming off a 2024-25 season where he went 26-8-4 with a 2.05 GAA and a .927 SV%.
Nobody should have concerns about DiPietro's ability to step up and be a solid backup for Swayman. Sweeney saw what happened when he let Brandon Bussi walk in free agency; he went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes. He wasn't about to lose a prospect netminder for nothing again.
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