Did the Bruins new coach shed some light on the roster for next season?
Last Thursday, the Boston Bruins ended almost two months of drama by naming former forward Marco Sturm as their next head coach. As the search was winding down, his name became the name most commonly mentioned with the Black and Gold, and you knew it was just a matter of time before it was officially announced.
With the timing of the announcement being last week, general manager Don Sweeney and his staff were in New York for the NHL Combine, something they needed to attend as they have the seventh overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles later this month. That meant that the introductory press conference for Sturm was going to be pushed off, and it was held on Tuesday morning.
Sturm got his first chance to speak and get to know the media more in-depth. He answered several questions that were asked of him, and one answer he gave might have shed a little light on a potential offseason move facing the Bruins front office.
Did Bruins coach Marco Sturm throw a wrench into a potential offseason move?
Sturm talked about what he liked about the team and had a rather eye-opening quote about the Black and Gold’s goaltending.
"I still love our team, even without any additions, because I think we have good goaltending, I think when everyone stays healthy, we have a really good D corps,'' said Sturm.
Now that quote could be taken a couple of different ways, it could very well be a message that Joonas Korpisalo will be returning next season to back up Jeremy Swayman. As the 2024-25 season was coming to a close, it was clear that Korpisalo was not happy with the amount of playing time he got this season, with some comments he made. His agent doubled down after the season with a message for the front office.
The smart move this summer would be finding a team willing to take Korpisalo and his contract with an AAV of $3 million off of Sweeney’s hands. He then would sign either Brandon Bussi or Michael DiPietro to a much cheaper contract, opening a little more cap space. That could still happen, but Sturm’s comments about the goaltending certainly raised some eyebrows.
