Boston Bruins Roster: Michael DiPietro Earns His NHL Opportunity | Ep. 151

0:00 Speaker 1: Can you start a podcast with me?

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 1: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 2: I'll jack send it out a trunk a bocking.

0:14 Speaker 1: To say, today.

0:20 Speaker 2: Here's a chance pop right down with Goalie Scars.

0:22 Speaker 1: Oh my wan a move by the rookie to.

0:24 Speaker 2: On one plaster not moving in Marsh getting Joe on his own oil dances in podcast at home right away corner pasterst What is that for? Loston? Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape. I will be your host today. I am Maria from Watertown, and today's episode we're going to be continuing in our summer long series of player profiles. Today's focus is going to be on newest member of Bruins goaltending tandem, Michael Dpah. But before we get going on that topic of conversation, I want to welcome in my co host Caroline with a k.

1:23 Speaker 1: Hey, Maria, I'm so excited to talk about Dippy.

1:27 Speaker 2: I know you love goalie talking like I love big defenseman talk.

1:32 Speaker 1: I know this guy. It's so funny. We called this weeks and weeks ago when we were discussing our summer player profiles. We knew we were going to have to talk about Michael Dpatrow because at some point, once the Boston Bruins were to say goodbye to Unice Corpusolo, which at the time we did not know when that was going to happen, we knew we're going to have to talk about Dpa Trow because it was pretty clear to me and I think to you as well, that the Bruins organization had invested a lot of time and effort and energy into this young kid and that he was going to be the one that they were going to call up to support Jeremy Swayman.

2:12 Speaker 1: And sure enough, even though it was already on the calendar, what happened, this conversation was meant to be. And let's lay the foundation for this topic of conversation, because, as you just alluded to, we had more than one conversation about the fact that Bruins had been carrying both Jeremy Swayman and Jonis Corprosalo on their salary roster and it was no longer becoming feasible to carry both of these goalies.

2:41 Speaker 2: And whether or not any of us believe some of the rampant speculation that has been coming across social feeds is that the initial potential deal to move corpor Salo was sending him to Edmonton along with I believe would have been Mason Laura with the return of Darnell Nurse. And speculation is that Jonas Corposalo invoked his no trade clause and said, yeah, no, I don't really want to go to Edmonton, but which was fine because maybe the Bruins dodged a bullet and not getting Darnell Nurse, and I believe that's why they ultimately plucked Connor Clifton off the pile of recyclable defenceman but signed by him New York.

3:28 Speaker 2: And I'm glad that the deal was made during the off season rather than going into this season with still this sword hanging over the Bruins head. So the Michael dpietrow era has officially begun, and even Don Sweeney, when asked about Michael d Pietro, said it's time to learn. And I'm not quoting, I'm just interpreting Donnie's words. Basically, time to learn. If Michael Dpietro is NHL ready NHL material, he's also earned his opportunity and hopefully he's going to take advantage of that opportunity with the Bruins.

4:12 Speaker 2: Do we expect Jeremy Swayman's workload to go up a little bit or are we going to try and strike a balance with giving dpe Trow the opportunity to prove that he's NHL ready. But what are your thoughts on that? Before we get into Michael Dpietro as an ahler.

4:34 Speaker 1: My initial thought before even the Corpusolo trade happened, understanding that all right, Boston is definitely going to be given this kid a shot. We saw him play wasn't even a start. He covered in for Corpusolo very briefly during a game when Corpy had a puck to the head and had to go sit in the dark room for a little bit before he came back, So we didn't see him and that was great. Initially, I was a little bit worried that, Wow, they're going to take this risk, They're going to just give him the job.

5:09 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. When it comes to goalie development and playing goaltenders, the way that you train as a goaltender, the way that you develop as a goaltender very different than with skaters. Goalies develop through a lot of repetition, reading live game situations. So being in games, handling that traffic, learning how to read what's in front of them, and if they make a mistake, recovering from those mistakes, and that only happens in game, and then building that confidence with start after start.

5:42 Speaker 1: So they clearly see in him a solid foundational game, a solid technical game. They would not be giving a kid without that experience this massive chance. So he's clearly got it, and he's got a hell of a story that I know we're going to get into. We're going to get to that this is the next step for him. He's spent time in Providence getting that degree of experience and repetition with that level of play, and quite frankly, the only way that you can then truly learn how to play the NHL game is to play in the NHL.

6:25 Speaker 1: So they are putting a lot of faith in this kid. I don't know that they will necessarily increase Jeremy Swayman's workload, nor do I think that he needs to have his workload increased. As we discussed in our Goalies conversation a few weeks back, his percent of games covered was on par with other elite starting goaltenders. Connor Hellibuck, Jay Gottinger all playing roughly the same, was it sixty five percent of games plus we've not loved Jeremy Swayman's work after more than games.

7:00 Speaker 2: I think when he gets to that five game in a row, mark, you can expect the floodgates to open up.

7:06 Speaker 1: Especially considering last season where he was doing a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of heavy lifting. Now, having a young goaltender who's inexperienced in net could also not only grow and develop him as a player, could have actually very positive motivational impacts on the players out in front of him. Because the players, if it's a good team, if it's a team with a solid, respectful culture, they're gonna say, we got to bring it. We cannot expose this kid and not put him in situations that are not fair.

7:47 Speaker 1: It's one thing to do that to Jeremy Swayman because at this point he is becoming a veteran goaltender. Hell, last season he earned his stripes. I think it benefits everybody to put Dippy.

8:02 Speaker 2: In And we've seen instances of that happen when Linas was on the team where we have made no I had done it where I would say, why does this team seem to play better in front of Gerrorah.

8:14 Speaker 1: Even if it's not a conscious decision.

8:16 Speaker 2: Don't leave them out there hanging to drive.

8:18 Speaker 1: Okay, So yeah, exactly, So I think it's going to be good for everybody to see him in that, and I think it's great.

8:25 Speaker 2: Well, from an organizational standpoint, you are in a very good position where you have the luxury of knowing that as an organization, the Bruins, they do a very good job of developing goalies. We can talk about their development of other young players at a different time, because I think that's subject to some concern at this point. However, when it comes to goalie, they're pretty solid. So you're not leaving yourself, I don't think in a vulnerable position to start the season. What you've done is you moved to salary in Yonis Corposalo off your current roster, and you're also now giving this young man an opportunity that frankly he deserves based on his play at the AHL level.

9:17 Speaker 2: He's won an MVP, he's won the equivalent of the Vesno Trophy at the AHL level twice. Now, his safe percentage is off the charts. Yes, this season, his safe percentage was crazy.

9:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, And I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about his pathway, because yes, yes, not just the fact that goaltenders take longer to develop, but this is a particular instance where he was impacted by two things significantly COVID and Vancouver.

9:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, and not only that, this kiddo started off as a defenceman and then at the ripe old age of nine decided to switch to goaltending.

10:06 Speaker 1: Which is actually like people joke, but actually that is. It's not that it's late, but I will say the vast but goalies know they want to do that. No, they want to do that right from the get go for the most part. Right, he also had very sad life tragedy where he lost his mother when he was just five years old, and so he's become very close to his father, has a type bond with this father and credits his father and his now stepmother for playing a major role in his life. But yes, Vancouver was not kind to him being drafted into their system.

10:49 Speaker 2: And he COVID the fan base there. It was time to get this kid out of Vancouver, and so he ended up making his way. So apparently the Canucks had as the Bruins are now starting to accumulate a very deep goaltender, which is.

11:09 Speaker 1: Great for an organization to have that degree of choice. It can be less great if you are one of those goaltenders. And in fact, as he got replaced or pushed down the ladder depth chart lest he I didn't know this, he requested the trade.

11:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, so he wound up in a better place, so to speak, with the Bruins organization. In twenty twenty two twenty twenty three, spent some time with the Main Mariners, but he blossomed with the Providence Ruins and as I mentioned earlier, he won back to back Baz Bastion Awards for being the AHL's best goaltender. He also took home a League MVP. As I said, his safe percentage has been from absolutely tremendous. Yeah, from he got to the Providence Bruins until the end of last season's regular season.

12:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's shocking to see just how effective the Bruins' goalie development program is with him, as like the poster child, we don't typically see or hear these stories of goalies coming in with his particular situation. He was on the Taxi squad for Vancouver. If folks remember already, my goodness, it's been six years. But teams were allowed to have a taxi squad of extra players who practiced with the club and they were available in case of injuries or COVID outbreaks. And because he was on that taxi squad for most of that shortened twenty twenty one season, we had practice with the goalie coach, but he barely played any games.

12:59 Speaker 1: He was in for AHL games because the thing is, if you were on the taxi squad, you couldn't go to the AHL. You were not allowed to go between teams like you normally would see today, right, you call him up, you send him back down. That was not allowed because they were afraid of the spread of COVID. So he was stuck. And at this point he was twenty two years old. And if you're a twenty two year old player in general and you're not getting ice time, you're not getting meaningful practice, that could spell disaster for your development.

13:35 Speaker 1: I think, like I said, the reason why I'm optimistic and I'm not worried about his opportunity in Boston is the fact again that goalies need to just get often thrown in so to speak, he had that lost year or so on that taxi squad. The extensive depth that you talked about in Vancouver really put him on his back foot. But I think whoever's idea was for him to request the trade at the best idea anyone could have possibly had for him, because the way that Boston then handled him, they had to have seen something there, right.

14:14 Speaker 1: The technical foundation is what is going to be the most important aspect of any player's game, whether you are a skater or a goaltender. If you have those foundational technical skills, you can always rely on them as naturally as breathing, so you don't have to think about those things, and you can actually then use that mental ability to the play and make decisions. You don't have to then also think, oh, I now have to place my foot here and do this. And in Boston, the way that they develop their goaltenders, they basically were saying, we don't care who you are or where you've played, we care that you play.

14:51 Speaker 1: And that is a massively huge philosophical difference in how they handle their goaltenders. And as we've said before, I think that shows in the the fact that Boston hasn't had a gap in goaltending in fifteen years minimum since Tim Thomas. So that kind of idea and that approach really makes I think a huge difference, not just in how they can grow and develop these goalies, but then also just as a person knowing that the organization doesn't care about where you came from. We just care that you get the practice and that you get the travening you need.

15:25 Speaker 1: So they sent him to this ECHL, which may have initially seemed like a demotion so to speak. I know for me, when I heard that we got this kid, I'm like, why did we get somebody to just bury way down in Maine? Okay? But it actually ended up doing the opposite of that, which was it gave him the chance to start games, play back to back face a significant number.

15:51 Speaker 2: He lost development in that Vancouver Canucks organization, and in essence, the Bruins and the Canucks traded one struggling draft pick for another in which we sent Jack Stadnika to them.

16:05 Speaker 1: So to your.

16:06 Speaker 2: Earlier point about we're seemingly on a better page the organization is when developing goalies than we are when developing younger players.

16:15 Speaker 1: And that time in Maine gave him the opportunity to grow his confidence. He was thirteen seven and zero with a nine to sixteen savee percentage there, that's fantastic, and he worked hard. The organization was saying, we want to see what you can do, and he responded. He knew he had a lot to prove. He knew he had to work on his game again because he didn't have that, and so he earned his spot in Providence. And it can still be hard to be seen as a goalie. He had to work really hard and he didn't get automatically put in as the starter in Evidence.

17:00 Speaker 1: That was during the time when Brandon Bussy was there, so Bussy was the one who was really running the show there. But they gave him opportunity. They brought him in because he earned it, and he kept earning his time and I think that gradual increase in his workload and him having that right attitude is really what then turned him into an ECHL regular, to an AHL regular, to Goalie of the Year right and an MVP.

17:32 Speaker 2: To win an MVP as a goalie in the league is pretty pretty significant. Shows the depth of what he did for the team, the Providence Ruins and what he's accomplished as a player in his craft, and he's also been prepared to Tim Thomas in that he's and we all remember Tim Thomas. He had a very orthodox way at times of playing play goalie. He might not have been the most technically sound, and Tim Thomas was really not known for his his butterfly style. He likes to spend a lot of time at net pucks and making this let me display myself out type of save.

18:16 Speaker 2: Not a bad comparison, not a bad comparison in terms of your style of play. But he does like to challenge shooters, yes, rather than just sitting deep in the net, which I do admire. I do like that style of play. I think sometimes that we want to see goalies that limit their movements in net. However, there are those instances where you don't mind seeing the goalie come out a little bit or be a little bit more aggressive with their stick play.

18:51 Speaker 1: To know that he's the type of goalie that is also going to be aggressive, like a Tim Thomas, you have to have a hell of a lot of confidence in understanding the play in front of you to play that way.

19:04 Speaker 2: To play that way, now, we'll see how that translates as he gets games in the NHL, maybe there needs to be a little bit of tweaking done to that, or maybe the Bruins will just say I'm just gonna let this kid do what he knows how to do.

19:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So I don't know that if we we probably will see him at will we see him at rookie camp? Maybe Well, that's because I can be a player, I know, but we saw Hi.

19:33 Speaker 2: I'm just wondering if he'll be more training camp rather than rookie camp. Technically he will be a rookie, but if he's your backup to Swimen, right.

19:43 Speaker 1: I think yes for two reasons. One again, for the goalies, you just get him in. You get him in, you get him in, you get him in, right. But we have seen in the past with skaters who most definitely got called up part way through a season or ended the season in Boston, like Mason Lauri or Johnny Beecher, they were at rookie camp because it was technically still within the purview of their rookie season. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see him and then giving him obviously the semi guaranteed spot in training camp, knowing he's going in as someone with a spot on the roster.

20:24 Speaker 1: I think that is still something that happens, and I'm really excited to see what this kid can do. I am too, and I think a lot of people are too. And I think a lot of people are breathing, not breathing a sigh of relief, but maybe saying or acknowledging the fact that finally the Bruins understand that the scope and purpose of having these guys down at the AHL level is to develop them so that you can bring them up to whatever role or position you have open and available at your NHL club. Maybe this is the start of an organizational shift in how things are looked at down in Providence, to which I say, it's about freaking time that we make a shift of this nature.

21:11 Speaker 1: My whole thing is, Okay, you're here, now, take every advantage of the opportunity that is set forth in front of you. The only downside, the only downside. Oh boy, he's twenty seven. He's not a baby now, twenty seven. You're like, well, wait, Caroline, you talk all the time about how goalies get to be their best at twenty seven to twenty eight. Yes, one percent. I'm not worried about his play. I'm thinking long term, this is not a guy who is going to take on the mantle from Jeremy Swayman when Swaymon's time.

21:51 Speaker 2: No, no, no, although I will say maybe the AHL miles are not to the same degree as the NHL miles, even though he's twenty seven. But there is validity to your point, and I think that's why the Bruins have drafted or signed an abundance of goalies during they're yeah right, So I am glad that they're looking ahead because one of the biggest criticisms I have had with regard to the Bruins is and a lot of other people, is they never planned for what they knew was going to happen somewhere down the road.

22:29 Speaker 2: Is you knew Tates Bergeron wasn't going to play forever, you knew David Crazie wasn't going to play forever, and you never planned appropriately, which is why we find ourselves in the roster situation that we're in right now. I'm glad they're not going down that same road with goaltenders. Boston also has in the pipeline behind dpe Trow, Simon Zechek, who is twenty five years old, who I have seen play and is also a fantastic goaltender. But again, he's twenty five.

23:04 Speaker 1: So if you're thinking about, okay, who's then going to be that next goalie, we don't have him yet. He's not there yet. But we've seen a number of goalies with a lot of potential drafted in the early stages of their development. And whoever it is when the time comes for Jeremy Swayman to retire, I am not worried about the Bruins' ability to find somebody to seamlessly integrate into the crease because they've done it so well for the last fifteen years. I have no concerns whatsoever, and I'm excited to see this kid.

23:43 Speaker 1: I love a young goalie with the right attitude who has overcome so much, so much of bertigity and has I don't want to say a chip on his shoulder, but he's got a I need to prove it attitude all the way through, and so this is the next step in that I need to prove and show to everyone this is where I belong at the NHL, and I think this is going to be really beneficial for Jeremy Swayman. It's always a really good thing to have both an excellent tender partner but also having someone that you can compete against a little bit.

24:19 Speaker 1: And they are of similar age. But obviously Swayman has more experience, but DPG who has a lot more to prove, And I think that they're going to have a really great dynamic to make each other better.

24:32 Speaker 2: And yeah, I think to your point too, I think this is a good opportunity too for Swayman to be somewhat of a pick on a mentor role.

24:39 Speaker 1: So to see, yes, the leadership piece. Goalies don't tend to have that degree of relationship with a lot of the other players. Like, yes, Swayman is a leader. He can mentor some of the younger players in terms of this is how you get ready for playoffs. But nobody else plays the role that he plays on a team. That's it.

25:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, a new era and we say in the dawning of a new era when it comes to goaltending for the Boston Bruins. So good for dpatro for earning his opportunity and now take advantage of it to its fullest. So that will unless you have any other thoughts to add that will conclude our conversation on what's.

25:24 Speaker 1: Our nickname for him?

25:25 Speaker 2: It sounds like Dippy Dippy and it's not meant in any kind of derivatory manner.

25:31 Speaker 1: We just think it's kind of cute.

25:32 Speaker 2: But we're looking forward to seeing him either at Rookie Camp or at Big Boy Camp. We'll likely see him potentially in both places. So as always, folks, thank you for listening. Please make sure your life can subscribe for more content. Please consider leaving us a rating and a review to help other Bruins fans find us. You can support our podcast by joining our Patreon or following us on our socials at Tape to Tape m K and on substack at substack dot com. Any closing thoughts, my friend Bruns, Go Bruins