Korpisalo Should Ask Himself — Not The Bruins — Why He Didn't Play More This Season

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The Boston Bruins had a catastrophic season this year. But now that the season is done, it’s not hard to see why.

Looking back, there were problems in net right from the very beginning all the way to the bitter end. Jeremy Swayman didn’t get signed until Oct. 6 – two days before Boston’s first game of the regular season – and struggled mightily, posting a 22-29-7 record, 3.12 goals-against average, and a .892 save percentage.

For his part, Swayman took accountability for his uncharacteristic poor play, telling reporters. “I wanted to play better. I know I can play better.”

However, the other half of Boston’s goaltending tandem – veteran netminder and first-year Bruin Joonas Korpisalo – also made comments after the season was done. And unlike Swayman, Korpisalo pointed the finger everywhere but towards himself.

“I don’t think there’s any goalie in the league who’s comfortable playing only 20-25 games,” said Korpisalo, who appeared in 27 games this season. “So I’m going to push for more games, for sure, and we’ll see what happens.”

With all due respect to Korpisalo, we’re going to go the Sheldon Keefe/Jonathan Kovacevc route and tell Korpisalo he’s got to play better – that would help.

Indeed, all you have to do is look at the individual numbers that Korpisalo put up – including an 11-10-3 record, a 2.90 goals-against average, and an .893 save percentage – and you’ll understand why Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco leaned on Swayman more than Korpisalo.

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Bruins' Jeremy Swayman Gets Real After Nightmare SeasonThe 2024-25 season was an ugly year for the Boston Bruins, as they missed the playoffs and finished with a 33-39-10 record. With this, a significant off-season is ahead for the Original Six club.
It’s true the 30-year-old Korpisalo was accustomed to more playing time prior to Boston acquiring him last summer. As a member of the Ottawa Senators last year, Korpisalo appeared in 55 games. Two years ago, he was in net for 39 games. Based on his stats, even that was too much.

No question, Korpisalo isn’t Linus Ullmark, who along with Swayman formed the best goalie tandem in the NHL.

If anything, Korpisalo should count himself fortunate that the Bruins don’t buy out his contract in this off-season. As someone making $4 million per season, Korpisalo is one of the highest-paid backups in the league, so complaining about a lack of action doesn’t create the most positive optics. This hasn’t been the bromance that Boston had been hoping for. To the contrary – he sounds like a ‘Bitter Betty’ that isn’t owning his role in Boston’s struggles.

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Do all backup goalies want to play more? Absolutely.

You probably don’t want to be employing any netminder who is satisfied with playing one-quarter of the season or less. However, most teams – if not every team – wants to keep that dissatisfaction in-house. So Korpisalo needs to shut up and put up when he gets a chance next season.

Nothing he’s said publicly this week is going to change that.

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