Upcoming Bruins free agent drawing strong interest around NHL

The Bruins clearly saw something they liked in Michael DiPietro.

Part of the return in the trade that sent Jack Studnicka to Vancouver early in the 2022-23 season, the Bruins' decision to take a chance on DiPietro certainly paid off. Eventually emerging as the No. 3 goaltender on the organizational depth chart, the 2017 third-round pick was an AHL All-Star and named to the AHL First Team in 2024-25, and was also the winner of the Baz Bastien Memorial Award, which is awarded annually to the AHL's top goaltender.

But now, general manager Don Sweeney and the Black and Gold may be in the unenviable position of watching that development go out the window and seeing DiPietro walk for nothing as a Group 6 free agent this summer. And with plenty of teams interested in his services, according to ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

"DiPietro has opened plenty of eyes and is seen as the top goalie available among group 6 free agents," Weekes posted on X earlier this month. "Plenty of NHL clubs I've spoken with have expressed their interest in him."

In his nearly three years in the B's organization, and beyond the accolades, DiPietro's body of work was one that got better and better, with a 45-17-7 record, along with a .924 save percentage and 2.24 goals against average for the P-Bruins. The 26-year-old also posted three wins and a .928 save percentage in seven playoff games with Providence this past spring.

With numbers like that, it probably goes without saying that the Bruins would prefer not to see another team reap the rewards of their work with DiPietro.

But the problem for the B's right now as it relates to DiPietro is that, as it stands right now, there's no room for an opportunity with Boston.

Speaking from a purely contractual standpoint, the Bruins have Jeremy Swayman on their books for another seven seasons at $8.25 million, while Joonas Korpisalo is on the hook for three more years at $3 million per season. Korpisalo is also in possession of a modified no-trade with a 10-team no-trade list, and has some form of trade protection throughout the life of that contract.

Again, from that standpoint alone, there's no room for DiPietro.

But the Bruins did not get what one would consider $11.25 million goaltending out of their tandem a year ago — Boston's .885 save percentage was the sixth-worst in hockey last year, actually — and neither goalie nor the Bruins themselves seemed particularly happy with what they got in the first year of the post-Linus Ullmark experience in goal.

"I don't think there's any goalie in the league who's really comfortable playing 20 to 25 games," Korpisalo said at Bruins break-up day at the end of the regular season. "You just do what's best for you every day, and try your best and work hard, and that way you might earn some more playing time. But you know, sometimes not up to me [with] who’s going to play more."

It wasn't exactly a 'Yeah, no, I love it here' kind of conversation. And Sweeney also acknowledged the apparent tug of war that existed in the goalie room.

"There were opportunities in the course of the year where, you know, Korpisalo was playing really well and probably deserved the net [and] there were other times where our group felt that to get Sway back on track, to put him in situations and leverage situations that arguably he should be playing and playing in his best hockey," Sweeney said back in April. "And if we're going to be successful, we would like him to do that, we clearly would like [Swayman] to get back to the level that he's more than capable of getting to."

It doesn't seem like this is a dynamic that's working the way the Bruins envisioned it. And if they view Swayman as an $8.25 million goaltender in terms of both overall deployment and especially in high-leverage starts, the Bruins may simply have too many needs to warrant a $3 million backup.

And considering that the Bruins shouldn't move on from Swayman after one bad season (not like their track record of abandoning young players at the first sign of danger is even slightly encouraging), the easiest move would be for the Bruins to find a Korpisalo suitor and investing in DiPietro at about a third of what the veteran Korpisalo is set to cost them.

But that's easier said than done, and with the start of free agency around the corner, perhaps that possibility is too far gone and DiPietro has a legitimate interest in seeing what else is out there for him.

Especially if the interest is as high as it sounds.