Do the Bruins want to avoid another Brandon Bussi situation?
The hope is that they’ve learned something from the last time they had an impressive AHL goalie in their organization who was pushing for a look in Boston but never got it, stuck behind Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark at the time.
The 27-year-old Bussi played parts of four pro seasons with the Bruins organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan and was named the AHL goaltender of the year in his AHL rookie season with a 22-5-4 record and a .924 save percentage.
Bussi did get brief call-ups to serve as the backup when injuries hit the goaltenders in Boston, and eventually he fell out of favor a bit in the B’s organization after they traded for Michael DiPietro, who has been named the AHL goalie of the year in each of the last two years while being blocked by a couple of hefty NHL goalie contracts in Boston.
The rest is history as Bussi signed with the Florida Panthers organization as a free agent last summer and found his way into the NHL backup gig in Carolina after he was claimed on waivers from the Panthers. Bussi went on to post a 31-6-2 record and an .895 save percentage for the Canes this season while splitting time with Freddie Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov in the net, and earned himself an NHL contract extension earlier this season that will put the AHL bus rides behind him for good. Bussi became an inspirational story as he took over for Andersen, helped mark a turning point in the series for the Hurricanes, and gave emotional interviews after Carolina’s Game 6 victory.
Brandon Bussi is an absolute legend. pic.twitter.com/Ax27PP8YSW
— Sean 🐴 (@InTheNixOfTime) June 15, 2026
The question now becomes whether Bussi should have been the low-salaried backup netminder in Boston instead of the high-priced Joonas Korpisalo, who posted very similar numbers to Bussi this past season. And now, should the Bruins seriously consider DiPietro as the low-priced backup in Boston this coming season instead of Korpisalo, as the B’s risk losing DiPietro to waivers at the end of training camp if he doesn’t start the season with the NHL club?
DiPietro did play part of one game in Boston last season, making two saves in about six minutes of relief for Korpisalo – with Swayman resting after his gold medal experience at the Olympics -- when the Finnish netminder was pulled by the concussion spotter following a collision with Miles Wood.
“Good for Mikey. He’s been rock solid all year,” said Marco Sturm following his brief look at DiPietro in a Boston uniform. “In that little stretch, he made some key saves and felt very good about it.”
DiPietro was 34-8-1 with a .930 save percentage last season with the P-Bruins and was just as excellent in Providence’s short playoff run afterward and has essentially done everything from an individual basis that a goalie can accomplish at the American League level.
From the O to MVP 🏆🐻@SpitsHockey and @Ottawa67sHockey alumnus Michael DiPietro backstopped the @AHLBruins to the top of the AHL and has earned the Les Cunningham Award as the league’s most valuable player for the 2025-26 season!
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) April 28, 2026
DETAILS🗞️: https://t.co/AyHOjQh0Tm pic.twitter.com/Qcpy0xuAjx
Do the Bruins run the risk of losing another Bussi? Do they go the bold route of potentially sending Korpisalo to the AHL (and save money on the cap in doing so) to start the season if DiPietro wins the backup job during NHL camp?
It’s going to be a fascinating training camp on a number of storyline fronts, but not the least of which will be the goaltending situation based on it being a clear strength of the team currently, a place where the Bruins could save some money cap-wise and at a place in time where they run the risk of losing out on the next “Bussi” if they can’t find an NHL place for their bright AHL goalie that’s being blocked right now by Boston’s goalie tandem over the last few seasons.
ONE TIMERS
*Interesting signing for the Boston Bruins, locking up undrafted Swiss hockey product Attilio Biasca to a two-year contract with an NHL cap hit value of $980,000 after he helped lead Team Switzerland to a silver medal at the 2026 IIHF World Championships. Biasca went undrafted during a productive three-year stint in the QMJHL with the Halifax Mooseheads and has been a hard-working, solid two-way player with grit in the Swiss League, but he shined playing left wing with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier at the Worlds while showing he could keep up with a couple of bona fide NHL players.
The 6-foot-1, 194-pound forward ranked second on the team in goals and helped his Fribourg-Gotteron HC club capture its first Swiss League championship and spent the previous two seasons (2023-25) in the Swiss National League with EV Zug, recording 30 goals and 22 assists for 52 points in 129 career games across the two clubs.
It remains to be seen if he’ll be able to jump right into NHL action or need an adjustment back to the North American game after playing in the European leagues for the last few seasons, but there seems to be little doubt he will get some time in Boston at some point next season.
*Solid hiring on the Bruins coaching staff this past week, as well as Matt McIlvane, who was added to Marco Sturm’s staff as an assistant coach to replace Jay Leach after he departed for the AHL head coaching gig with the Hartford Wolfpack. McIlvane was the head coach for the AHL San Diego Gulls over the last three seasons and had previously worked with Sturm on his Team Germany staff while the B’s bench boss was in charge of the German National team at international events.
"We are excited to welcome Matt, his wife Megan, and their children Mason and Mila to Boston," said Sturm. "I've had the privilege of working with Matt through the German National Team, and I've come to know him as an outstanding coach and person. He is an excellent teacher and communicator who has done a great job developing players throughout his coaching career.”
While it makes sense for Sturm to add one of his “own” coaches to the staff after inheriting Chris Kelly and Bob Essensa and hiring Steve Spott with no personal history with that coach prior to this past season, there was also some pretty healthy sentiment toward potentially adding Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel to the staff after winning AHL head coach of the year honors in Providence this past season.
*Congrats to Taylor Hall on a well-deserved, elusive Stanley Cup for his well-traveled career after truly paying his dues. There wasn’t a Ray Bourque-esque level of appreciation for him being that longtime veteran player that was finally getting his Cup, but he earned a spot in a pretty exclusive club, joining Alex Ovechkin as one of only two No. 1 overall picks that had to play more than 1,000 games in their NHL career prior to hoisting the Cup.
Las Vegas is where No. 1 picks go to win their first #StanleyCup. 🎰
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) June 15, 2026
Taylor Hall (2010) clinched the Cup in the same arena Alex Ovechkin (2004) earned his first championship in 2018.#NHLStats: https://t.co/LbpyhDNoTP pic.twitter.com/B2N5PrCWwp
Always a rock-solid professional on and off the ice during his time in Boston, Hall joins the amazing Brandon Bussi and D-man Mike Reilly as the three ex-Bruins players who will get their names on Lord Stanley’s Cup after the Carolina Hurricanes took the Final in six impressive games over Vegas on Sunday night.