4 things to know about new Bruins forward Mark Kastelic

Bruins

Last season in Ottawa, Kastelic ranked third on the Senators in penalty minutes (63) and fourth in hits (126).

While most of the headlines surrounding the Bruins’ blockbuster deal on Monday revolve around Linus Ullmark, Joonas Korpisalo, and Boston’s re-acquired 2024 first-round pick, the Bruins also bolstered their bottom-six unit in their trade with the Senators.

Beyond Korpisalo and that 2024 first-rounder, the Senators also sent Boston 25-year-old forward Mark Kastelic — giving the Bruins another pugnacious presence further down on the depth chart. 

Here are four things to know about Kastelic: 

Kastelic should provide some snarl and speed on Boston’s fourth line.

Kastelic isn’t exactly a needle-mover for the Bruins in terms of their efforts of injecting more scoring punch into their forward corps. In 144 career games with Ottawa, Kastelic scored 14 goals and recorded 25 total points. 

But Kastelic does give Boston some of the coveted blend of speed and size that Cam Neely identified as a missing element on the Bruins’ roster during his last media availability in May. 

“Obviously, this game is fast and we’re not as fast as we’d like to be,” Neely acknowledged last month, adding: “Maybe a little faster and we’d like to see a little bit more 50/50 puck battle wins. That’s an area where you have to want the puck more than the other team.”

Kastelic is a big body at 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds, but also has the wheels to land some welts on the forecheck. Last season in Ottawa, Kastelic ranked third on the team in penalty minutes (63) and fourth in hits (126).

If the Bruins are looking to craft a checking unit featuring young, cost-controlled talent, putting a physical forward like Kastelic on the same line as Johnny Beecher and Justin Brazeau offers up plenty of intrigue. 

Add in Kastelic’s willingness to drop the gloves, and the 25-year-old forward has all of the tools in place to become a fan favorite in Boston.

He’s a solid defensive forward.

Even though Kastelic isn’t exactly a fourth-line forward that one should pencil in for 10-plus tallies this season, he should be able shore up some critical areas in Boston’s D-zone in 2024-25. 

With Boston’s fourth-line forwards routinely handed plenty of taxing minutes in the Bruins’ own end of the ice, having a gifted faceoff option in Kastelic should come in handy. Kastelic sports a 56.3 faceoff percentage in his career, including a 54.4 percent showing during the 2023-24 season. 

The only Bruins who boasted higher faceoff numbers than Kastelic last season were Pavel Zacha (54.8 percent) and fellow fourth-liner Beecher (54.6 percent).

Even though Ottawa was far from a defensive powerhouse last season, Kastelic ranked fourth among Senators regulars (min. 400 minutes) in goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 play (2.4). 

With Jeremy Swayman anchoring Boston’s defense in 2024-25, Kastelic’s defensive numbers should continue to improve in his new surroundings. 

Kastelic has some family ties to the Bruins

The Kastelic family already boasts plenty of NHL ties beyond Mark’s ongoing career. 

Mark’s father, Ed, played 220 career NHL games for the Washington Capitals and Hartford Whalers from 1985-92 — racking up 719 penalty minutes over those seven seasons. 

Mark Kastelic already has a connection to Boston, as his grandfather, Pat Stapleton, played two seasons for the Bruins from 1961-63.  Stapleton went on to play 635 games in the NHL, along with another five seasons in the WHL. 

“My grandpa taught me a lot about the mental side of the game,” Mark Kastelic said in a profile from The Athletic in 2023. “He was always giving me texts of encouragement. There were a lot of positive affirmations with my grandpa and dad.”

Pat Stapleton’s son — and Mark’s uncle — Mike Stapleton also had a 14-year career in the NHL, recording 182 points over 697 career games. Mike Stapleton played for seven different franchises over his 14 years in the NHL ranks. 

Kastelic hails from an unconventional hockey market.

Even though he has plenty of links to the NHL with his family, Kastelic developed into a promising hockey prospect while growing up in Phoenix — spending his youth hockey years with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes teams from 2013-15.

The Kastelic family settled in the Phoenix area after Ed Kastelic played the 1992-93 season with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League.

While Arizona isn’t exactly a hotbed for NHL talent, Kastelic expressed disapointment to the Ottawa Sun in April that the Arizona Coyotes were relocating to Utah for next season and beyond.

“For myself, personally, it’s sad. That’s a team I grew up watching and I have a lot of attachment to it,” Kastelic said. “They’re not going to be around anymore. After watching them my whole life and getting the chance to play against them in the NHL, it’s sad.

“Those are some of my favourite games of the year, getting the chance to play in front of friends and family. That’s something the people there are going to miss, for sure. I just feel for a lot of the younger generation. I had the Coyotes to look up to when I was growing up.

“That’s what got me involved in the sport. Some of my favorite players were on that team. Now young kids won’t be able to have that and that’s going to be a little bit disappointing.”