Less than an hour before arguably the biggest game of the last decade, the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins decided to crash the party.
At approximately 7:45 p.m. ET on Monday, the two teams officially announced one of the biggest trades of the summer to date. Linus Ullmark is an Ottawa Senator; Joonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic, and the 25th pick in this year’s draft now belong to Boston.
TRADE ALERT: The #Sens have acquired G Linus Ullmark from @NHLBruins in exchange for (Boston’s original) ’24 first-round draft pick (no. 25 overall), C Mark Kastelic and G Joonas Korpisalo. As part of the transaction, the #Sens will retain 25% of Korpisalo’s remaining salary.… pic.twitter.com/0xRMxi8wZS
Everyone had their fun talking about the trade in the moment, although it was quickly forgotten once Game 7 began. But now that a new day has arrived, it’s time to turn our attention back to a deal that could have an enormous impact on the Atlantic Division standings next season.
You know what this means. It’s time for another edition of Daily Faceoff‘s Trade Grades!
OTTAWA SENATORS
Receive:
G Linus Ullmark, 30 – $5 million cap hit through 2025
The Senators have a few things to address this offseason. Jakob Chychrun is just one year away from unrestricted free agency, Shane Pinto needs a new contract, and Mathieu Joseph is rumored to be on the trade block. But, without a doubt, the No. 1 priority for newly-minted Sens GM Steve Staios entering the summer was to find an upgrade in goal, and he did just that on Monday.
Ullmark is one year removed from winning the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender in the entire National Hockey League. He has posted a save percentage of at least .915 in each of the last five seasons, including two behind a porous Buffalo Sabres defensive group. His career save percentage is a sparkling .918, which is 17 points higher than that of the guy the Senators sent the other way in this deal. There weren’t many better targets than Ullmark on the market this summer.
No, Ullmark isn’t a perfect goaltender by any means — but who is? If he wants to cement himself as a bona fide elite goalie in this league, Ullmark will need to prove he can manage a starter’s workload. Owing to his tandem role alongside Jeremy Swayman in Boston, Ullmark has yet to play in 50 or more games in a single season. He’s also appeared in just 10 postseason games in his entire NHL career (with spotty results) and watched the vast majority of Boston’s 2024 playoff run from the bench.
The Sens are looking to end a seven-year playoff drought. Ullmark will be asked to form a tandem with fellow Swede Anton Forsberg next season behind what should end up being a significantly reshaped Ottawa defensive group. It’ll take a lot of effort for the Sens to become even three-quarters as strong and structured on defense as the Bruins have been, but Ullmark proved in his later years in Buffalo that he’s more than capable of posting good results in less than ideal circumstances.
Ullmark will need a new contract after this forthcoming season. It’s a good sign that he agreed to go to Ottawa at all — his contract includes a 16-team no-trade list — but it remains to be seen whether the Senators will be able to retain Ullmark’s services beyond 2025. If they’re successful on that front, feel free to tack a plus sign onto the letter below.
Grade: A
BOSTON BRUINS
Receive:
G Joonas Korpisalo, 30 – $3 million cap hit (25% retained, down from $4 million) through 2028
C Mark Kastelic, 25 – $835,000 cap hit through 2025
2024 first-round pick (No. 25 overall)
Boy, this is a tough one. Less than a week after the Calgary Flames traded Jacob Markstrom — who, mind you, has a full no-movement clause — to New Jersey for a first-rounder and defenseman Kevin Bahl, the Bruins traded a younger goaltender in Ullmark with better numbers, far less trade protection, and a Vezina Trophy win to his name for a demonstrably worse return.
While, yes, the Bruins did receive a first-round pick in this trade — their own 2024 pick, coincidentally — they had to take on the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract to get it. The Senators were kind enough to retain a quarter of Korpisalo’s cap hit, but that doesn’t change the fact that Boston now has the goaltender who saved the fewest goals above expected in 2023-24 (per Evolving-Hockey) on their payroll at a relatively hefty $3 million cap charge until 2028.
As mentioned, Ullmark has posted at least a .915 save percentage in five consecutive seasons. Korpisalo hasn’t reached that mark in the last eight. He’s posted some of the worst numbers in the league in three of the last four seasons, with the lone exception being 2022-23, in which he went 18-14-4 with a .914 in 39 games split between the Columbus Blue Jackets and L.A. Kings. His save percentages in the other three years of that four-year stretch? .894, .877, and .890. Yeesh.
Considering the term remaining on Korpisalo’s deal — and the extent to which he hampered Ottawa’s attempts at competing for a playoff spot last year — it feels like the Senators should’ve needed to attach a first-round pick just to move him. Even with the caveat that buying out Korpisalo would cost relatively little, it boggles the mind that Boston took him off Ottawa’s hands seemingly without any additional compensation.
Was the market for Ullmark really that thin? Were there no offers out there that involved a first-round pick without the Bruins needing to take on a heavily problematic contract? It just feels like a bizarre misstep on Boston’s part to move someone like Ullmark for a return in which the value of a first-round pick is essentially negated by the inclusion of a deal like Korpisalo’s. When the Arizona Coyotes traded the final year of Darcy Kuemper‘s contract to the Colorado Avalanche three years ago, they didn’t have to take on any bad money to extract a first-rounder, and neither did Calgary in the Markstrom trade.
Is there a chance Korpisalo rebounds in Boston’s system? Yes, for sure — but the Bruins receiving any value at all in this trade shouldn’t be contingent on such a risk. If Korpisalo doesn’t bounce back, they’ve essentially given away Ullmark for free. Even with the cap going up, space remains at a premium in this league (especially for top teams), and Boston didn’t create much at all in this deal — if anything, they may have tied themselves to an anchor. A late first-round pick and a fourth-line center in Kastelic aren’t enough to make up for that.
Grade: D
_____
Hey, hockey heads! Get ready for The Daily Faceoff Playoff Parlay Challenge! Each game day, answer four playoff prediction questions like who will win the first game, will points be over or under or what will be the highest-scoring period? Daily winners snag gift cards, while each round’s champs pocket cash! Play now at games.dailyfaceoff.com and prove your puck prowess! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s all about hockey! Let’s go!
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
