The Canes have gone full in on Korpisalo as their “be all
end all” future in net. At 25 years old, and a huge investment, he has started
out his tenure with the big team on a solid foot.
The journey began with the 2024 draft, he was drafted 30th
overall in the 1st round by the Vancouver Canucks. The scouting report on the young prospect at
the time was, “Most goalie gurus
see an enormous ceiling with Korpisalo, a future that holds No. 1 goaltender
ability. But he won’t get there until his fundamentals and positioning improve.
The highlight saves are great; but at this level, the puck has to “find” you a few
times a game.”
He was traded
to Seattle after a couple seasons on the Canucks farm as a part of the
following transaction, “Seattle Kraken send DET 2025 Rnd 1
to the Vancouver Canucks for Joonas Korpisalo”. Followed by being moved to the Canes, “Seattle
Kraken send Joonas Korpisalo to the Carolina Hurricanes for Stanislav Galiev,
CAR 2027 Rnd 1, CAR 2029 Rnd 1”.
In retrospect, we paid a big price for this individual player, so the
pressure is on for him to work out.
After toiling in the minors and getting beat up by
rerates, likely dues to the porous defensive team playing in front of him. Every offseason management would have to write
a cheque to restore him back to his pre-rerate state. This offseason the team went all-in on
workouts, investing over 30 million dollars in his development, with plans to
so the same at the end of this season.
In 14 games this season, Korpisalo has a .902 SA% and
a record of 5-6-3. The team is very
satisfied thus far with his play and with an increase in “run support” the
record should improve.
The team believes that they have found their future in
net in Korpisalo, even though he has big shoes to fill with Rask’s retirement
last year.
9/21/2023 - 306 words
