The Boston Bruins host the Ottawa Senators Saturday night, and that means Linus Ullmark’s return to TD Garden for a potential showdown with former goalie hug partner Jeremy Swayman. Neither team has officially announced its starting goalie yet, but all signs point to Ullmark and Swayman both starting given that neither started their team’s most recent game on Thursday.
With that, we thought it might be worth an admittedly far-too-early reflection on the blockbuster trade that sent Ullmark to Ottawa in June. In case you forgot, the Bruins got back goalie Joonas Korpisalo, forward Mark Kastelic and a first-round pick, which they used on center Dean Letourneau.
So, how is everyone doing? Let’s start with Ullmark. Things started positively in Ottawa, with Ullmark signing a four-year, $33 million extension just before opening night and then stopping 31 of 32 shots against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers for his first win in his first start as a Senator.
Since then, however, it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride for Ullmark. He missed nearly two weeks with an injury, and he has now lost four of his last five starts, posting a rough .873 save percentage during that time. He has been outplayed by presumed backup Anton Forsberg, who has at least forced a platoon for the time being, and could even get back-to-back starts at some point. Among 57 goalies who have played at least four games this season, Ullmark ranks 50th in goals saved above expected (-3.5), a stat that attempts to account for the performance of the team in front of a goalie.
On the Boston side, Korpisalo has played pretty well recently after a shaky first couple starts. In his last four appearances (three starts), Korpisalo is 2-1-0 with a .933 save percentage, and he recorded his first shutout as a Bruin this past Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Korpisalo is 28th in goals saved above expected (+0.5) and is at least showing signs of being better than he was in Ottawa last year, when he ranked second-to-last in goals saved above expected.
Kastelic has been the real pleasant surprise in this whole trade, as he has centered a Bruins fourth line that has set the tone more than any other line or defense pairing in the early going. He has three goals and four assists in 15 games, already approaching his career high of 11 points. Kastelic leads the team in hits (64), is second in plus/minus (+8), and has won 55% of his faceoffs. His 2.49 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 play are second only to linemate Cole Koepke.
“I think his offensive potential is much more surprising than I expected,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of Kastelic on Friday. “His compete, his willingness to be hard in all three zones is something that we had seen when we played against him when he was in Ottawa. And speaking to a lot of coaches that have coached him, there’s not a coach that has not loved him. So, we knew he’d fit in good as a Bruin.”
Letourneau is literally the biggest part of the return at 6-foot-7, and the 18-year-old could figuratively be the biggest part of it if he pans out. Right now, however, he is clearly still the developmental project every prospects expert said he would be. Entering a big weekend series against the University of Maine, Letourneau has zero goals and one assist through five games as a freshman at Boston College while playing third-line minutes. He has been bad on faceoffs (10-for-40), but does have nine shots on goal and is a plus-2.
Obviously, it’s too early to reach any definitive conclusions on any part of this trade, but it’s especially too early to judge Letourneau. Making the jump straight to NCAA from Canadian prep school was always going to be tough. He’s in a great situation with the No. 2 team in the country and will develop under a coaching staff led by Greg Brown that demands two-way accountability even from star forwards. Give this some time.
The last player worth checking in on here is of course Swayman. While he wasn’t directly part of the trade, it was the Bruins’ decision to choose Swayman over Ullmark long-term that prompted the deal in the first place. Swayman missed all of training camp and the preseason before signing an eight-year, $66 million extension just before the start of regular season. So far, he has kind of looked like a goalie who missed all of training camp and the preseason.
Swayman is 4-5-1 with an .894 save percentage so far, well off his career mark of .919 entering this season. He has allowed four or more goals in four of his 10 starts and ranks 33rd in goals saved above expected (-0.2). It would be a big help, however, if the Bruins stopped taking so many penalties. Swayman actually ranks ninth out of 57 qualified goalies in 5-on-5 save percentage (.936), but just 47th in penalty-kill save percentage (.793).
So, where does all that leave everyone ahead of a potential Swayman vs. Ullmark showdown on Saturday night? Both teams are probably expecting and waiting for a little more from their big-money goalies. The Bruins should be very happy with Kastelic, relatively content with Korpisalo as a backup, and still excited about Letourneau’s potential despite a slow start to his college career.
As for Swayman and Ullmark themselves, Swayman said after Friday’s Bruins practice that the two are planning to hang out later in the day, but he did not reveal whether there are any plans to revive the goalie hug Saturday night (I would bet on no, but you never know).