Mark Kastelic plans to use hard work to impress new Bruins coach Marco Sturm

Related
:
'I think my mind-set will be the same as a year ago,' mused Kastelic, reached via telephone at his dessert home in recent days. 'Just try to earn the coach's trust, prove what kind of player I am and what I can bring to the team, try to earn everything out on the ice and just be hungry, as always.'
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
That attitude, particularly given roster needs in the wake of general manager
Don Sweeney's
wheelings and dealings around the March trade deadline, could lead to expanded playing opportunities for the hard-nosed 'Nasty Kasty.'
Advertisement
The strapping (6 feet 4 inches, 225 pounds), right-shot forward proved last season to be a strong, dependable, and valued force in the bottom six. Prior to suffering a late-season concussion, he showed impressive flashes of speed, abundant willingness to play a contact game, and an old-time Bruins penchant for fisticuffs (total: 10 bouts). The 2025-26 Bruins not only need Kastelic, they need more like him, from the top six on down.
Advertisement
One potential area of opportunity for Kastelic, one that neither
Jim Montgomery
nor
Joe Sacco
explored in his first season in Boston, could be the power play. Framed another way, after seeing how the Bruins struggled on the advantage last season, why not give the big beast a try? Tell him to park that frame at the top of the blue paint and don't come back till that red light starts flashing like a five-alarm fire.
For the record, the power play would not be a novel role for Kastelic. He played a lot of net-front PP in his latter junior days with WHL Calgary. He scored 95 goals across his last two seasons with the Hitmen, a total beefed up by his work on the advantage. Granted, playing roles in junior often don't translate to the NHL, especially at the skill spots, but there's no denying he has the size, will, and reach to be, at the very least, a worthy candidate.
Kastelic also would be the last guy to knock on Sturm's door and even so much as suggest it. 'I don't think I've ever asked for a lot of things in my life, and my career,' he said. 'I think my mind-set is just to earn everything I get, whether that's power-play time or penalty-kill time, or just more ice time. If something's not going well, or I want more, I just try to prove by my action that I want more, or just being early in the rink, just showing that I care. That's my approach.
Advertisement
'Obviously, I'd love an opportunity on the power play, and I have that confidence in me — even in the junior and minor league level, I feel I had success at that. It's just a matter of getting an opportunity then hopefully have success.'
Related
:
Now feeling '100 percent' recovered from lingering concussion symptoms that led to his season getting cut short, Kastelic remained in the Hub until just after Memorial Day. He worked out frequently at Warrior Arena, crediting
Kevin Neeld
(director of performance) and
Tim Lebbossiere
(assistant performance director) for their guidance, and enjoyed exploring the city, particularly around his Seaport neighborhood.
Kastelic said he enjoyed frequent visits with
Rip
, his golden retriever, to a local dog park, though they had yet to bump into Seaport neighbor
Charlie McAvoy
and
Otto
, the defenseman's celebrity dog about town.
Among the fittest members of the Black and Gold, Kastelic spends long hours training in the summer. Though he didn't share roster time with
Zdeno Chara
here, Kastelic has a Z-like work ethic. He said he often logs two off-ice workouts a day in the weight room and sometimes incorporates outdoor track work as a third session.
'So when September comes,' he said, 'and it's two sessions — one skating, one lifting — it feels easy by comparison.'
Prior to leaving for junior hockey 10 years ago, his eyes fixed on making it to the top of the hockey hill, Kastelic often trained on 'water tower hill' near his former Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, Ariz. The big tower sits atop a sharp slope, he said, of some 200-250 meters. He would challenge himself with flat-out sprints to the top, or mark off different lengths for shorter bursts.
Advertisement
'Something I've been doing for 15 years now,' he said. 'Every summer I go there to run, do sprints, and some longer runs. It's kind of a bonding thing, too, my mom and dad will come and it's kind of a family affair. We'll all work out together.'
His mother,
Susan
, and father, ex-NHLer
Ed Kastelic
, the 61–year-old former Whaler, don't sign on the full sprint to the top.
'Uh, yeah,' said their ready-to-run-through-a-wall son. 'I mean, everyone has their own levels, but . . . '
In about 10 weeks, Kastelic will fly back to Boston for Year 2 as a Bruin, his first under a new deal to pay a total $4.7 million across the next three seasons. As for his role, and how a new coach envisions what he can do, perhaps there is another level here for Kastelic. Clean slate. Fresh start. For everyone.
Kastelic celebrates a goal in October.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
TOP SHELF
Mostly hits,
some misses
During
Marco Sturm
,
Don Sweeney
noted his urgency to upgrade the roster ahead of next season. It's a remote chance that the No.7 pick in the upcoming draft, the primo pick in the GM's possession, would provide immediate thump. Sweeney hinted he'd consider dealing it on or before June 27 as a means of bringing in a plug-and-play NHLer.
Related
:
Worth noting, while there's no guarantee that top-10 picks mature into regular NHL contributors, your faithful puck chronicler reviewed 10 drafts (2009-18) and it showed all but 10 of the 100 top-10 picks across those draft classes did carve out NHL careers — and a large percentage will return for duty in 2025-26.
Advertisement
Some of those have reached their mid-30s and have played in 1,000-plus games, including five of the top six picks in 2009:
John Tavares
,
Victor Hedman
,
Matt Duchene
,
Brayden Schenn
, and
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
.
Related
:
The No. 7 pick in 2009,
Nazem Kadri
, is on target to crest the 1,000-game mark in November, his fourth season with the Flames. It took the talented Kadri three seasons of back-and-forth tuneups in the AHL/NHL before he finally cracked the Maple Leafs' varsity full time at age 22. It takes most kids a couple of years or more before they are ready for the daily NHL grind.
The top-10 picks who proved to be busts in those 10 aforementioned drafts:
2009 — Dallas (No. 8),
Scott Glennie
, C. Total NHL games: 1.
2010 — Atlanta (No. 8),
Alexander Burmistrov
, C Total games: 348. NY Rangers (No. 10),
Dylan McIlrath
, D; Total games: 92.
2012 — NY Islanders (No. 4),
Griffin Reinhart
, D; Total games: 37. Pittsburgh (No. 8),
Derrick Pouliot
, D; Total games: 226. Tampa Bay (No. 10),
Slater Koekkoek
, D; Total games: 186.
2014 — NY Islanders (No. 5),
Michael Dal Colle
, LW; Total games: 112.
2016 — Vancouver (No. 5),
Olli Juolevi
, D; Total games: 41.
2017 — NY Rangers (No. 7),
Lias Andersson
, C; Total games: 110.
2018 — NY Rangers (No. 9),
Vitali
Kravstov
, RW; Total games: 64.
Some rough rides there for the respective amateur scouting departments, particularly for the Blueshirts with their three swings and misses in 2010, 2017 and 18.
Here in the Hub of Hockey, where the Bruins last muffed a top-10 pick in 2007 (No. 8,
Zach Hamill
, C, 20 games), there is an enduring penchant to play the what-if-they-drafted-this-guy-instead? game. Well, the Rangers in 2010 chose McIlrath ahead of
Cam Fowler
(12),
Brock Nelson
(30), and
Justin Faulk
(37). In 2017, they opted for Andersson instead of
Martin Necas
(12),
Nick Suzuki
(13) or
Robert Thomas
(20). And the following year, Kravstov was their guy over
Evan Bouchard
(10) or
Noah Dobson
(12).
Advertisement
Plug in any three of those alternatives in 2010, '17, and '18, and maybe the Rangers aren't about to embark on yet another major retool, directed by a new coaching staff topped by
Mike Sullivan
.
Former top-10 pick John Tavares (left) has played in more than 1,000 games in his NHL career.
Adrian Wyld/Associated Press
ETC.
Trade scenarios
worth considering?
To move up from the No. 7 spot in the draft, the Bruins likely would have to add an asset or two, be it by sacrificing someone on the varsity, or yield a prospect (roster talent already too thin), or a pick from, say, the second round (No. 51 or 61). None of those scenarios is likely unless the Islanders cared to part with No. 1 — about the same chance
Alexei Zhamnov
returns to Causeway in a role other than backup Zamboni driver.
The more logical move would be for GM
Don Sweeney
to drop in the order, find a partner to swap first-round picks as a means to acquire a player, likely a winger, who can provide immediate offensive impact.
The
Sidney Crosby
.
Kreider, 34, is coming off his least-productive season (22-8–30) as a pro. He scored only six of those 22 goals on the man-advantage. He ain't what he was, but he was hurt a bunch last season and a return to the far east end of Comm. Ave. might have been a refreshing reboot.
Would it have been enough, say, for the Bruins to flip their No. 7 to New York for the Rangers' No. 12 and also take Kreider (and his $6.5 million cap hit for two more seasons) off the Blueshirts' books? Possibly, judging by the modest accompanying assets that were exchanged in the Rangers-Ducks swap. The Ducks indeed absorbed the full retail price remaining on Kreider's deal.
Conjuring potential trade scenarios around the flip of first-round picks amounts to throwing darts, but the process is worth examining, and it's particularly relevant for a Bruins team that watered down the roster's whiskey at the trade deadline.
With Kreider gone, how about No. 7 to the Canucks for No. 15 and Scituate homeboy
Conor Garland
, on target to be an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2026?
While not prolific, Garland (to be 30 in March) has proven to be an effective top-six winger (either wall). He also scored a career-best seven PPGs this past season while submitting an overall 19-31–50. Granted, not nearly as jazzy as acquiring Kreider, but also less risk. Garland is sort of a downsized version of
Morgan Geekie
. The only payroll commitment is Garland's his one year at $4.95 million.
Finally, keep in mind that two clubs are holding two first-round picks, the Sharks (Nos. 2, 30) and Canadiens (Nos. 16, 17). With that kind of juice, they can shop, potentially work their way into three-way exchanges.
The Sharks have a load of young talent, especially at forward. The Canadiens don't look like a good fit for a swap with the Bruins, and Boston-Montreal trades have been few over the years. Times, though, are different. It's the Original 32 now (at last count) and need can knock tradition right out of the rink.
The Rangers moved Chris Kreider to the Ducks on Thursday, taking one potential trade target off the board for the Bruins.
Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
Being patient with Letourneau
Dean Letourneau
, the Bruins' first-round pick last June, was challenged to produce offense this past season as a Boston College freshman. The towering (6-7) pivot, who turned 19 in February, finished with a meager 0-3–3 line in 36 games with the Eagles.
Ryan Nadeau
, the Bruins' director of amateur scouting, said the club 'knew it was a huge jump' for Letourneau to go directly from high school hockey to Division 1 college competition, forcing him to face some players four or five years older and with far more NCAA experience.
'It's a little bit different path,' noted Nadeau. 'Even a lot of the kids his age who do go [to Division 1] have played at the National Team Development Program or in the USHL. So it was a big jump. We went in, anticipating there would be a lot adversity for Dean this year.'
Letourneau, chosen No. 25, was the club's first Round 1 draft pick since 2021 (
Fabian Lysell
). The Kings chose 6-3 winger
Liam Greentree
(Windsor) at No. 26. He finished third in OHL scoring this past season with 119 points.
'We have a lot of patience with where these players are going and what their path looks like,' said Nadeau. 'It's a long process, and I know people do tend to lose patience, and it's easy to look around and look at certain other draft picks that are piling up numbers. But each draft pick has a different path and a different way to get to the end goal. I think Dean is in a good spot and is doing a lot of work to continue to evolve and grow his game.'
Loose pucks
Lias Andersson
, after flaming out with the Rangers, spent three seasons (2020-23) in the Kings' organization and enjoyed by far his best pro season under
Marco Sturm's
tutelage at AHL Ontario in 2022-23. Andersson was the Reign's No. 2 scorer (31-28–59) that season, then chose to sign as a free agent with the Canadiens that summer. Now 26, he played this past season with Biel HC in Switzerland. No doubt a stretch, but it could be worth Sturm finding out if Andersson, a 6-1, left-shot pivot, is interested in another kick at the NHL can . . . Only 32 NHLers these last three seasons topped Garland's 244 games played. Two were Bruins:
Charlie Coyle
(247) and
David Pastrnak
(246) . . . Ex-Bruins captain
Brad Marchand
remains on target to hit the UFA market July 1 and is rumored to be seeking $8 million a year for 2-3 seasons. He has had a phenomenal postseason with the Panthers. But $16 million-$24 million for a guy who turned 37 last month? It might not be all that preposterous, largely because the cap, about to move to $95.5 million next season, projects to $113 million by 2027-28. A team could figure he's worth $24 million, while also calculating his game will be worn thin by age 40, yet keep his AAV tamped down by writing him to a seven-year deal. Based on $24 million, the cap hit over seven years would be some $3.4 million a year. Because Marchand is age 35-plus, the CBA does not allow him to be bought out. But if he can provide a team with the kind of jump for three years that he's provided the Panthers with these last three months, Years 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be little more than a sales tax.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

2 hours ago

• Yahoo

Corey Seager's solo home run (7)

Bruins Free Agents: Who Will Stay & Who Will Go? After a tough 2024-25 season, the Boston Bruins have some big decisions to make when it comes to their roster this summer. Given how this campaign went, it would not be surprising in the slightest if we see some changes made to their group. 1:56 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing

CBS News

11 hours ago

• CBS News

Bruins add assistant Steve Spott to Marco Sturm's coaching staff

Bruins head coach Marco Sturm has added longtime NHL assistant coach Steve Spott to his staff in Boston. Spott will become one of Sturm's three assistant coaches, and will likely run the power play in Boston. Spott, 57, enjoyed a lot of success when he ran the power play in Dallas over the last three seasons. The Stars had one of the best power-play units in the NHL over that stretch, converting on 23.7 percent of its chances to rank seventh in the NHL. Last season, Boston converted on just 15.2 percent of its chances on the man-advantage, which ranked 29th in the NHL. The Bruins power play was successful on 22.2 percent of its chances in both 2023-24 and 2022-23, which ranked 14th and 12th in the NHL, respectively. "I'm incredibly excited and honored to join the Boston Bruins organization," Spott said in a release Friday. "Being part of an Original Six franchise with such a proud history and tradition means a great deal to me and my family. The opportunity to work alongside Marco and the rest of this coaching staff, in front of one of the most passionate fanbases in hockey, is something I'm truly grateful for, and I can't wait to get started." "I'm thrilled to add Steve Spott to our coaching staff, and also welcome him, his wife Lisa and their children, Tyler and Emma, to Boston," Sturm said in a release Friday announcing Spott's hiring. "Steve is a passionate teacher, a strong communicator, and brings great structure and detail to everything he does. His experience, especially on special teams, will be a major asset for our group and for the Bruins moving forward." Before his three-year run in Dallas, Spott was an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights (2020-22), the San Jose Sharks (2015-19), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (2014-15). He was also the head coach of the Toronto Marlies in the AHL from 2013-14, going 45-25-6 with a Northern Division crown with the club. He began his coaching career in the Ontario Hockey League as an assistant for the Plymouth Whalers for four seasons, followed by stints as an assistant coach (2002-08) and the head coach (2008-13) of the Kitchener Rangers. Marco Sturm's Bruins coaching staff Spott now joins assistant coaches Jay Leach and Chris Kelly and goaltending coach Bob Essensa on Sturm's coaching staff for the 2025-26 season. Those other three coaches are holdovers from the Jim Montgomery/Joe Sacco regime from last season.

Miami Herald

2 days ago

• Miami Herald

Brad Marchand's ‘will to win' played key role in Panthers' second title run

'Ultimately, we chase the Stanley Cup. You want a chance at playing for that every single year. To be able to be part of a team that has that opportunity again this year, I'm very grateful for that. You never know how long you have in this league. You never know when your last day is going to be. You want to make the most of it.' Brad Marchand said these words March 10, three days after the Florida Panthers acquired him in a trade deadline deal with the Boston Bruins. The emotions wrapped around him. He never thought he would leave Boston, not after spending all 16 seasons of his career to that point with the Bruins. But hockey is a business, and decisions had to be made. So with the Bruins out of contention, Marchand in a contract year and an impasse reached on a potential extension, it was time to move on. Boston honored his wishes. He went to Florida, with the Panthers sending back what ultimately became a first-round draft pick. Marchand chased — and won — his second Stanley Cup. The 37-year-old forward — a veteran in the hockey world but a newbie on this Panthers team — became a driving force on Florida's run to a second consecutive championship, which was secured Tuesday with a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. He scored 10 goals, six of which came in the Cup Final. 'It feels completely different,' said Marchand, who won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 as a rookie. 'I have so much more respect and appreciation for how difficult it was to get here, how hard it is and the amount of things that need to go right to win.' Marchand fit in seamlessly with the group, with his blend of intense work ethic and tenacity mixed with a youthful demeanor and ability to chirp his teammates on command making him a perfect addition to an already tight dressing room. Teammates flung rubber rats at him after home games. He led frequent trips to Dairy Queen over the final two rounds of the playoffs. 'He was almost born to be a Florida Panther,' star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said. Considering the battles Marchand and the Panthers had over the past few years before the trade, the irony of that comment isn't lost on anyone. But hockey is a strange sport sometimes. The path doesn't always play out as expected. For Marchand, it worked for the better. 'Everything has to line up perfectly,' Marchand said. 'My situation's a perfect example of that. Like, I shouldn't have been here. But it worked out, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.' Enjoying it enough to stay? That's the next big question. Marchand came to the Panthers as a rental, set to be a free agent on July 1. After spending his entire career in Boston before this, this will be his first — and possibly only — time testing the open market. He'll likely command a hefty salary by some suitors. But would he consider staying with the Panthers, who only have $19 million in cap space to work with and about a half-dozen spots to fill — not to mention other big-name players in Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad potentially to work out deals with, too? 'We'll see what happens here soon,' Marchand said. 'He's been wanting this' What happens in the future might be up in the air, but what happened during Marchand's time during the season with Florida was pretty remarkable. He joined the team while dealing with an upper-body injury he sustained a few days earlier. He wouldn't play his first game for Florida until March 28, three weeks after being acquired. But in that stretch, he did what he could to get acclimated to his new team. It didn't take him long to realize the possibility of what could happen this season. 'I've been on a lot of teams throughout the years, and you know when you have something special,' Marchand said. 'You know when you walk into a special room. That's what they have here.' Marchand helped amplify that. He elevated Florida's third line as the right wing with center Anton Lundell and left wing Eetu Luostarinen, bringing out a new level of offense in a young duo known as defense-first forwards. He brought a veteran presence into a dressing room that was already loaded with experience. He came in with a desire to push Florida over the top. Marchand had been to the Cup Final three times in his career with Boston but only won in 2011 as a rookie. The Bruins lost in 2013 and 2019. 'When you get a guy like that, a personality like that coming into the room, that can produce at this time of year, does time and time out again, and you add the motivation that he has, I think that's the biggest thing we've seen. He's been wanting this,' Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. 'He's been waiting for this opportunity for a while. And he's taking advantage of the moment. When you can add a guy like that into a locker room like this, it's only positive.' And it was felt from the start. Immediately after being traded and added to the team's group chat, the chirps started flying. Bennett, who knocked Marchand out of a couple games of the playoffs last year with a controversial hit, was the first victim. Marchand had brought up with the media learning about Bennett's 'strong right hook' and joked that Bennett's 'still a scumbag.' But Bennett and Marchand are cut from the same cloth. Both are physical, get-under-your-skin players on the ice that players love to have on their team and hate to go up against. Tkachuk is in that same boat, too. Marchand's personality and the human side of him, something players don't fully get to see unless they're teammates and interacting daily, won them over in addition to what they knew they would get when the puck dropped. 'What he's meant to this team ... I truly don't think we win a Stanley Cup without him,' said Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup playoff MVP. 'His leadership, his will to win, it's inspiring. I was telling him before every game, 'We're going to follow you.' And we did. He was a dog every night. ... He's a better player and person than I ever knew, and I'm grateful that I got to play with him.' A shining example of how quickly Marchand assimilated into the group: the team's postgame celebration once he joined the lineup. Fans throw rubber rats onto the ice after home wins, an homage to the 'Year of the Rat' season in 1995-96, lore that stems from Scott Mellanby killing a rat in the team's dressing room. After Florida's first win with Marchand in a game, on March 28 against Utah, Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues (who has known Marchand and skated with him during the offseason in Boston for close to a decade) decided to fire off one of those rubber rats at Marchand, who has (affectionately or otherwise) been referred to as a rat throughout his career for his knack to stir things up on the ice. 'They just see all my family out there on the ice and want us to be together,' Marchand quipped. Soon, Barkov and Tkachuk joined in. As the team progressed further into the playoffs, the shots started getting harder. Naturally, as Marchand did his lap with the Stanley Cup on Tuesday night, Sam Reinhart fired a rubber rat at him. 'Yeah a couple guys I think they're looking for blood out there,' Marchand said. 'But you've got to embrace the grind, and you've got to enjoy it. It's special to be here, you wouldn't want it any other way, and that's why this trophy is so hard to win. It's so difficult on the mind, on the body, what you have to grind through, so you've got to appreciate it.' 'More special than I could have imagined' The Panthers are appreciative for Marchand, too, even though acquiring him came down to the very end at the trade deadline. Panthers coach Paul Maurice was getting ready to leave the team's practice facility about a half hour before the deadline on March 7. He went to thank president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito and his team for the good work they had done — they had already acquired defenseman Seth Jones, fourth-line forward Nico Sturm and backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek over the past couple days. 'And Bill came out and said, 'What about Brad Marchand?'' Maurice recalled. 'If he had asked that a year and a half ago, I would've thought he was joking. But he's been able to find these players that we didn't think were possible and he's been able to get these deals done. When he fired that out, I think there was a bit of a pause, his face was serious, everybody nodded and that's it.' And so the Panthers added a veteran with 1,090 NHL games of experience (1,247 if you include the playoffs) and 976 career points (1,014 if you include the playoffs) to his name. 'The thing about players when they come in is you have a really strong idea, right?' Maurice said. 'You do all your prescout, you get it, and then you get on the ice with them in practice, and that's when you learn. I had said this right from the start. Clearly, he's closing in on 1,000 points. He's got good hands, but I didn't fully appreciate the small area things that he does, and that's the most difficult to do. It's not the rink-wide pass on the tape that you get excited about, but what he can do under duress in a small area is world class. It's as good as I've seen.' To Zito, Marchand's on-ice talent was a given. It was the other intangibles Marchand brought to the team that added so much more to the Panthers. 'Getting to know him a little bit more as a human, he's more special than I could have imagined on that front,' Zito said. 'As a teammate and as a character human. From that standpoint, it's like frosting on the cake.' It led to a successful business exchange for both parties. The Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions. Marchand won again for the first time in 14 years. It wasn't the path he thought he would take this late in his career, but it's one he's grateful happened. 'It still felt heavy, that's for sure,' Marchand said of the Cup. 'It's pretty incredible to do it here at home. It's so many people here that I love and that had been a huge impact on being part of this, so it's an incredible feeling.'