East Notes: Bruins, Korpisalo, Power, Charron

Jonathan Aspirot was certainly a feel-good story for the Bruins this season, going from a journeyman minor leaguer to a fixture on the top defense pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy.  However, Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe argues that Boston’s top priority this summer should be upgrading McAvoy’s partner on the left side.  Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Mason Lohrei have all been attempted with varying degrees of success to the point where Aspirot was given a chance and made the most of it.  But with the Bruins looking to build on their return to the playoffs, adding a player who could help McAvoy find another gear would certainly help their fortunes considerably.

Elsewhere in the East:

• Still with the Bruins, com’s Conor Ryan examined some potential cap casualties should the team decide to make some bigger swings that they can’t fit into their roughly $16MM of cap room this summer. Chief among those is goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who has two years left on his deal with Boston responsible for $3MM of his cap hit.  With Michael DiPietro winning AHL MVP this season, he could plausibly become Jeremy Swayman’s backup next season, allowing them to move Korpisalo to open up a bit of cap space.  With several teams likely looking to shake things up between the pipes, there could be a market for his services.
• Facing elimination tonight, the Sabres should have one of their top blueliners available.  Owen Power was banged up late on Thursday but head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters today including Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the defenseman should be good to go.  In his first taste of playoff action at the NHL level, the 23-year-old has five assists through 11 games and is averaging 20:44 per game of ice time, down just a tad from his season ATOI of 21:39.  Ruff wouldn’t comment on any potential lineup changes for Buffalo for tonight’s game.
• Earlier this week, Penguins prospect Jordan Charron announced that he was committing to UMass-Amherst. However, it appears he won’t be making the jump to the college ranks right away.  His former GOJHL team, the Ayr Centennials, noted (Twitter link) that the commitment is for 2027-28, meaning that he’ll stay with OHL Soo for one more year.  The winger was a fifth-round pick last year and moved to the OHL level this season.  He had a solid first year with the Greyhounds, notching 25 goals and 22 assists in 66 games and finished up on a tryout in the minors with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  However, since he didn’t play a game on that agreement, he retains his NCAA eligibility.