Hi, Bruins fans, and welcome to my blog!
For full transparency, this blog is a part of a school assignment. A part of my Communications major is a course that requires us to run a blog for eight weeks. If this blog works out well, I’ll continue past those eight weeks, but for now, we’re on my professor’s schedule.
Before I get into the topic at hand today, I’ll introduce myself! My name is Corrighan, and I’m a 20-year-old Communications and English double major with a minor in Criminal Justice. After college, I hope to get my master’s in journalism and then enter the world of hockey journalism. If it wasn’t obvious, my favorite team is the Bruins, but I do have a soft spot for the Sharks.
My ‘credibility,’ I’ll say, comes from years of being both a passionate hockey fan and a figure skater. I began skating at the age of two, and although I am no longer as active in the sport, I found myself surrounded by hockey players for a decade. If I’m honest, I was actually pretty spiteful towards hockey players for a good chunk of my life; our rink let them take over our private practice time before competitions a million times and one gave me a concussion once, so I held a grudge.
I got into hockey officially in 2023. We don’t have a hockey team in Virginia, and I refuse to be a Capitals fan like my father (sorry, Dad!), so I jumped around the league a few times in search of a team that felt like home. When I became a Boston fan a while later, it finally clicked into place. One of my favorite players in the league, Fraser Minten, had recently been traded there, and I found their play style electric and entertaining.
Along the way, I absolutely fell in love more with the game of hockey. I follow other sports, too, like Formula One, football, baseball, and NASCAR, but hockey has become my thing. I follow the PWHL and NHL religiously, watch every international tournament I can, and wreck my sleep schedule for the sport.
It’s my favorite thing in the world.
This blog will be updated once a week with discussions around the Bruins and the league as a whole. Today’s topic is the most fitting for a first post; we’ll be discussing the movements made during the summer offseason.
Boston was surprisingly quiet during the offseason this year, with June being their most active month. They signed forward Attilio Biasca to a two-year contract on June 14, a move that I’ve become quite fond of. The first quote of Biasca’s EliteProspects page says, “Biasca’s a tank. Even when tries to play with more finesse, he still ends up running over opponents.” If that doesn’t tell you that this is a good move, I’m not sure what will. Boston is a pretty physical team, especially with players like Nikita Zadorov and Mark Kastelic. Biasca would fit in well on either Boston’s NHL roster or their AHL Providence roster.
June 18 was marked by a trade sending forward Andre Gasseau and a 2026 fourth-round pick to San Jose in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2026 fifth-round pick. As a Bruins and Sharks fan, I have no real room to complain here.
June 23 came with the signing of goalie Simon Zajicek, who earned a one-year contract with the Bruins. The 25-year-old goalie boasts a pretty good record in recent years, including a .915 SV% with a 14-6-1 W-L-OT record with Providence this past season.
On June 26, forward JJ Peterka was acquired from Utah in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick. Peterka is described as “a real pain in the ass” on his EliteProspects page, and I think that’s a nice way to put it. I’ve been interested in Peterka for a while now, and I find his play style fitting for a team like Boston. The Bruins have a somewhat dirty play style – I’ll admit that – and Peterka fits that play style well. He’s aggressive and fast, a great match for the team.
July 1 came with a trade I honestly did not predict this season. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Kalle Väisänen and a 2028 fourth-round pick. I will be honest; I was kind of surprised by this move. I know there were whispers of a Korpisalo trade all season long – pretty much every Bruin faced trade rumors at some point – but I thought it would be a little further out. I don’t know much about Väisänen, but I’m pretty happy with another forward and a draft pick for Korpisalo.
The next day, June 27, forward Fabian Lysell was traded to Colorado in exchange for forward Ivan Ivan. I will admit that I was not particularly pleased with this trade. I absolutely loved Lysell, and I didn’t know much about Ivan at the time. I’ve seen, since, that Ivan can be helpful on the defensive side, something the Bruins could certainly use some help on. He’s especially helpful on the penalty kill, and the Bruins could use some help with that. They’ve ranked 24th in the league for penalty kills for the last two seasons; a little bit of help with the penalty kill could be instrumental to a good run this season.
Forward Riley Duran signed his one-year, two-way contract on July 9. Duran has been a consistent player for the Providence Bruins for a few seasons now, and he’s continued to develop his game throughout the years.
August was silent from the Bruins, with no movement or signings, and so far, only two moves were made in September. September 8 was marked by the seven-year extension of forward Fraser Minten. If you know me, you know I am a big fan of Fraser Minten, so this was an exciting day for me.
An exciting day for me.
The last piece of movement – so far! – was the signing of forward Matt Poitras to a one-year, two-way contract. Poitras is instrumental in Providence, with 85 points in 105 games. Poitras is a heavy hitter, a fast skater and a good shooter; I’m excited to see if he finds a place on the NHL roster this season.
Next week’s article will cover the Bruins captaincy discussion! Opening night is September 29, and Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney confirmed in a press conference that a captain will be named by opening night. I’ll talk first about who I think would make a better captain, and at the end, I’ll talk about who is named captain!
Before I go, part of our first assignment is to include an overview of our next planned out topics. The topics I have are subject to change, of course, but I plan on talking about:
> prospect analysis
> captaincy discussion
> contract analysis
> the next generation of Bruins
> NHL 27
> the “pest” player stereotype
> Heated Rivalry and the actual Montreal/Boston rivalry!
Weekly Recap
PRESEASON
Capitals @ Bruins – 09/20
> Final score: 2-3 W SO
Flyers @ Bruins – 09/22
> Final score: 1-5 W
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