\u201cMaybe being a policeman or a firefighter,\u201d he said. \u201cJust somewhere you work with a team. I think that\u2019s something I could have gotten into, been passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it turned out, that 2022-23 season with the Maine Mariners provided DiPietro with a career reset, along with an altered perspective about the game. He spent the previous season, prior to being dealt to the Bruins<\/a> from the Canucks for forward Jack Studnicka, tending net for AHL Abbotsford. Getting assigned to the ECHL, by any reasonable measure, could not be interpreted as career advancement.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout using too many expletives, yeah, that was a pretty tough point in my career,\u201d DiPietro said. \u201cI started in the American League my first year [pro] and then my second year, I was basically in a bubble as a third goalie and didn\u2019t play a hockey game for 417 days. So for me, that third year pro [with Abbotsford], I\u2019d forgotten how to play, forgotten my practice routine \u2026 and then \u2026 I\u2019m in Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n The day he was assigned to the Mariners, it was a call home during the drive from Providence to Portland<\/a> that helped DiPietro shift his focus. His dad, who more than 15 years earlier heard him plead to be a goalie, heard his son ask, \u201cWhat am I doing?\u201d<\/p>\n Just stick with it, Vic told his son. After all, the two had endured bigger things. Much bigger, including the death of wife and mother Becky DiPietro, when Michael was just 5 years old. <\/p>\n In the span of three years, recalled Michael, they lost Becky and also both of Vic\u2019s parents. Father and son for years had been side-by-side in the family car for countless long rides along Highway 401 for AAA games. When Michael flew out of town to be part of a high-profile junior tourney in Fargo<\/a>, N.D., Vic surprised him by driving \u201c16 hours, through the night,\u201d his son recalled, to make the opening faceoff.<\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly, I see this bald head in front of me and it\u2019s my dad!\u201d Michael said. \u201cAnd I was scratched, the third goalie that night. Didn\u2019t even play. So my dad and I sat in the stands together and watched \u2014 just another reason I love him.\u201d <\/p>\n Soon after arriving in Maine, DiPietro began to \u201cfind\u201d his feet. It\u2019s a term he uses often, his expression for focusing on the moment and \u201cblocking out noise,\u201d be it from the stands or inside his head. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got to Maine, it was, you know, just go find the love of the game again,\u201d he said. \u201cJust block out everything and go have fun. Those guys play because they love it. Being where my feet are and just being happy with that allows me not only to be happier and in a way better mental space, but in terms of being able to play more freely. You\u2019re just going out there and playing the game you love. <\/p>\n \u201cGoalies definitely take a weird path. Very few get a straight shot, but you know, I wouldn\u2019t change a thing. It\u2019s brought me to where I\u2019m at today, where I am in life.\u201d<\/p>\n DiPietro was promoted to Providence the next season and worked aside No. 1 stopper Brandon Bussi<\/a>. By the end of the following season, DiPietro had moved ahead on the organizational depth chart, a shift that led Bussi to depart via free agency in July 2025. <\/p>\n Less than a year later, Bussi took charge of the Hurricanes\u2019 net late in the Stanley Cup Final<\/a> and backed Carolina to its second title. He actually began the season in Florida\u2019s training camp and went to the Hurricanes via waivers in October. (Exhibit A in the unpredictable path of goalies.)<\/p>\n Then came July 1 this year. As was long rumored, Joonas Korpisalo was traded off the Boston varsity, to the Rangers<\/a>. By nightfall, general manager Don Sweeney declared the path officially clear for DiPietro, confident he can handle the next step.<\/p>\n DiPietro knows, however, that\u2019s only part of the puzzle.<\/p>\n \u201c[I have to] go and earn the job. That\u2019s been my mindset since I turned pro \u2014 just put my head down and work,\u201d DiPietro said while also noting how much he appreciated Korpisalo as a goalie, as a teammate, and as a person. \u201cEspecially coming to Boston, again, being where my feet are \u2026 I know that might sound clich\u00e9, but it\u2019s true. It\u2019s how I want to live. <\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s an opportunity and that\u2019s fantastic, but that\u2019s all it is: an opportunity. I need to take it, try my best, and be a great teammate. That\u2019s what I hang my hat on \u2014 do all that and try to be a good human being. Because at the end of the day, that\u2019s how you win.\u201d<\/p>\n DUCKS IN ROW<\/p>\n Carlsson contract offers future issues<\/p>\n The Ducks beat Friday\u2019s deadline by about 24 hours to match the Flyers\u2019 gargantuan offer sheet on Leo Carlsson, keeping the talented Swedish pivot<\/a> on the payroll for five years and $90 million. Carlsson, 21, will receive all but $4.7 million of the contract, a fraction over 5 percent of it, through signing bonus.<\/p>\n The offer sheet, even before it was matched, caused a pricey ripple effect on the Anaheim payroll. Amid rumors last weekend that emerging defenseman Pavel Mintyukov likewise was about to be tendered an offer, the Ducks promptly signed the 22-year-old Russian to a five-year, $36 million extension out of his expired entry-level contract. <\/p>\n It represented nearly an eight-fold increase over Mintyukov\u2019s original cost per season in a deal signed soon after he was the No. 10 pick in the 2022 draft. The contract left the Ducks with some $27 million in cap space \u2014 ample room to match Carlsson\u2019s offer, but not enough to also take care of Cutter Gauthier, the ex-Boston College winger whose ELC also expired this spring. <\/p>\n Gauthier, picked No. 5 by the Flyers in the 2022 draft and later dealt to the Ducks<\/a>, knocked home a club-high 41 goals last season and was also the Ducks\u2019 top point producer (69). <\/p>\n In the soaring summer of \u201926 salary market, Gauthier could land $12 million a year, which initially had general manager Pat Verbeek contemplating a Gauthier-or-Carlsson decision or in need of culling salary elsewhere on his roster. <\/p>\n Conventional wisdom points to Verbeek keeping Gauthier and wheeling out a body or two among veteran forwards Chis Kreider, Alex Killorn, and former Bruin Frank Vatrano \u2014 a trio with a combined average annual value of $17.35 million. Their average age is over 34. Looks to be a no-brainer that one or two must go, perhaps with Anaheim forced to retain some of the money.<\/p>\n The Carlsson offer sheet isn\u2019t necessarily a game changer in terms of other franchises rushing in to filch high-end talent by similar means. More broadly, hand in hand with the escalating cap (tethered directly to the league\u2019s gross receipts), it likely will drive up the price clubs pay to retain talent in their top-end and mid-level salary ranges. Example: the bet here a couple of weeks ago was the Bruins could extend Pavel Zacha\u2019s stay (his $4.75 million deal to expire next spring) for something around Charlie McAvoy money<\/a> ($9.5 million AAV). Now? As the Black and Gold\u2019s No. 1 center, less than 12 months from reaching unrestricted free agency . . . fill in the blank. <\/p>\n Is it $12 million a year for Zacha? Maybe $14 million? Whatever it is today, it will be more next summer.<\/p>\n Local father-son agents Matt and Ryan Keator handled the Flyers-Ducks machinations on Carlsson\u2019s behalf. Matt structured the deal that brought Zdeno Chara to Boston<\/a> as an unrestricted agent in July 2006, when $7.5 million a year was what it took to secure a franchise defenseman.<\/p>\n ETC.<\/p>\n Langenbrunner clocks out in Boston<\/p>\n Jamie Langenbrunner abruptly exited the Bruins\u2019 front office<\/a> in May, interviewed for what was then the open GM position in New Jersey, and signed on with the Predators in mid-June as a special assistant\/advisor to new GM Chris MacFarland.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was time,\u201d said Langenbrunner, reached via phone the other day at his home in Minnesota. \u201cDonnie [Sweeney] was great to me for a lot of years, gave me an opportunity to figure out what path I wanted to go, coming out of being a player \u2026 find a fit.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Langenbrunner, 50, he had the opportunity to remain in his role as Bruins assistant GM, and said his departure \u201cwasn\u2019t about the money\u201d or adding a title. Instead, it was about his urge to learn what opportunities might exist for him elsewhere and a chance to expand his knowledge base with a different organization.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if nothing had worked out,\u201d mused Langenbrunner, \u201cI would have been happy just being home, being a dad and a grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n The end of his 11-year run with the Bruins coincided, too, with son Mason\u2019s graduation from Harvard, where he suited up on the Crimson blue line the last four seasons. A Bruins draft pick<\/a> (2020, No. 151), Mason opted to retire his skates while pursuing a business path as a partner in a couple of start-up companies.<\/p>\n \u201cI was fortunate enough to see him play his last college game, pretty much knowing that was going to be it,\u201d said Jamie. \u201cKind of sad to see it end, but it\u2019s good to see your kids go after their passion. He understood how much you have to put into chasing the other [hockey] dream. He made more of a business decision than a heart decision on it, which isn\u2019t always easy for a 23-year-old.\u201d <\/p>\n Langenbrunner\u2019s gig in Nashville will be very much in lockstep to the niche he carved out here \u2014 scouting the NHL and other pro leagues, with an eye trained on identifying players that could come to the Predators one day by trade or free agency. <\/p>\n It was helping the Bruins spot some underused assets around the league \u2014 he gave forwards Zacha<\/a> and Marat Khusnutdinov as prime examples \u2014 that Langenbrunner found to be his most satisfying contribution.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the role, he figures at the moment, that he\u2019d like to remain in for a long time. Perhaps, if the fit were perfect, he\u2019d consider being a GM. Beyond the Devils, he spoke informally with another club about its No. 1 job, but overall felt \u201cI love the role I\u2019m in \u2014 finding players, building the team, I think that\u2019s more in my wheelhouse \u2026 I kind of like being under the radar.”<\/p>\n In case you missed it, veteran goaltender and two-time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky found a new home for the next three years, signing on with the Maple Leafs<\/a> for $21 million total. \u201cBob\u201d will be 38 by season\u2019s start and looks a little long in the tooth for Toronto to be rolling out that kind of dough. <\/p>\n Maybe the Bobrovsky-Anthony Stolarz partnership works for the Maple Leafs as it did for the Panthers in 2023-24 en route to the Cup. Perhaps this time, Stolarz carries at least half the workload.<\/p>\n The Bobrovsky acquisition brought your Faithful Puck Chronicler a good chuckle, dating to June 2021, when I proposed on Twitter that the Maple Leafs try to acquire Bobrovsky at a 50 percent discount on his $10 million AAV with the Panthers. I added the idea of finding someone to take 12-year veteran pivot John Tavares for a similar discount and also dealing off William Nylander, then age 25, for what surely would have been a motherlode of assets. He was young and under contract control \u2014 potentially worth a franchise defenseman in return.<\/p>\n The reaction among Maple Leafs fandom? I picked carbon splinters out of my backside for a long, long time.<\/p>\n Bobrovsky went on to win the Cups. Toronto rolled along with Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek for a while, and kept both Tavares and Nylander, the latter of whom continued working for a cap hit of some $7 million before upgrading to his current $11.5 million.<\/p>\n Oh, and the Maple Leafs subsequently have turned over the front office twice. They also lost four of six playoffs series over the next four postseasons prior to their 2026 DNQ. <\/p>\n But wait, there\u2019s more. <\/p>\n After doling out whopping salaries up front (see: $11.5 million for Nylander), they were forced a year ago to part with Mitch Marner<\/a> for the stocking stuffer that was Nicolas Roy (dealt after 59 games). The Marner loss was inevitable due to roster imbalance \u2014 too much money tied up on a slick, soft front end and very little bite in back.<\/p>\n The proposal was all barstool fantasy, but fun fodder to consider, even more now than then for some of us. The Maple Leafs continue their search for their first Cup since 1967.<\/p>\n![\"Leo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4BIH2LLFJOX3FJFKBZJXISJFPM.jpg\")
Leo Carlsson (bottom left) beat Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins with an overtime goal for the Ducks at TD Garden in January 2025.Barry Chin\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Jamie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SWXYRO2ZXO6S5T44JPJBCFJSG4.jpg\")
Jamie Langenbrunner worked in hockey operations for the Bruins for 11 years.Matthew J. Lee\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Two-time](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7RLM5XVURPCBBKUDGUGVFRR544.jpg\")
Two-time Panthers champion goalie Sergei Bobrovsky will be wearing the blue-and-white of the Maple Leafs this season.Matthew J. Lee\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n