What are the three worst contracts on the books for the Bruins in 2024-25?

For some time, this off-season has been circled on the calendar of not only fans of the Boston Bruins, but also GM Don Sweeney. Several contracts came off the books creating a large amount of cap space and Sweeney used it to upgrade his roster with the two biggest contracts being handed out to center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Both of those contracts might be passed when goalie Jeremy Swayman gets a new deal at some point (hopefully), but right now, according to Puckpedia, Sweeney has just over $8.6 million remaining in cap space. Again, most of that will go to Swayman. Whether it was through players returning from last season, free agency, or a trade, there are some contracts on the books for 2024-25 that are not great. Here are three bad contracts for the Black and Gold this year.

Elias Lindholm

It has been rumored for some time that Sweeney was interested in getting Lindholm on the Bruins and he became available this summer after not signing an extension with the Vancouver Canucks after being traded there by the Calgary Flames. That opened the door for Sweeney and he quickly pounced to get Lindholm.

In the end, the Bruins gave Lindholm a seven-year deal with an AAV of $7.75 million. That’s some serious money on a top-line center who is coming off a tough season and the Bruins are banking on him bouncing back in Boston with David Pastrnak. This past season saw a decline in Lindholm’s production that saw him score 15 goals and just 29 assists between the Flames and Canucks. The Black and Gold need Lindholm to bounce back this season or this could be a tough contract on the books for a long time.

Hampus Lindholm

It’s not that Lindholm’s contract is bad, but coming off a season where there was a big drop-off in production, the Bruins are going to need him to regain his 2022-23 form that saw him net 10 goals and had out 43 assists with an insane plus/minus of plus-49. This past season his numbers dropped to three goals and 23 assists in 73 games.

Zadorov was brought in through free agency to help the left side with Lindholm and Mason Lohrei, but it is going to be key that Lindholm regains his form from two years ago to make this a better AAV for the 2024-25 season and for the Black and Gold to swallow.

Joonas Korpisalo

This contract is the worst that the Bruins have on the books. Acquired from the Ottawa Senators in the Linus Ullmark trade, Joonas Korpisalo is coming off a bad season with the Senators and Sweeney taking on $3 million a year for the next four seasons is very tough. He went 21-26-4 last season for Ottawa with a 3.27 GAA and a .890 SV%.

The Bruins are banking on goaltender coach Bob Essensa working with Korpisalo and helping the former Columbus Blue Jackets goalie find his game. If that doesn’t happen and Brandon Bussi outplays him in camp and the preseason games, Sweeney has a sticky situation on his hands with some tough decisions looming.