Last month, Patrick Lalime’s brother texted him a picture of Joonas Korpisalo’s new mask.
The former NHL netminder was shocked to see Korpisalo’s mask included an image of Marvin the Martian — the same cartoon character prominently featured on Lalime’s own mask when he played for the Ottawa Senators for five seasons from 1999-2004.
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“Wow, that is pretty cool,” Lalime said of his initial reaction. “When I saw it, I wondered if it was a tribute.”
Korpisalo spent some time recently explaining to The Athletic that, sure enough, his mask design was intended to pay respect to Lalime and the Senators’ past.
“That’s why it’s there. Of course I remember the Martian mask,” Korpisalo said. “It was a little shout out there.”
But Korpisalo — who turned 10 years old a few days after Lalime played his last game for Ottawa in April 2004 — said he doesn’t have any strong recollections of actually watching Lalime play in net for Ottawa.
“I didn’t really watch games back then because I was so young and NHL games would come on at like 4 a.m. for us,” says Korpisalo. “But I did play the NHL video game when I was a kid. And he was always in Ottawa’s net.”
Quebec-based airbrush artist Sylvie Marsolais has been working with Korpisalo to paint and design his masks since 2016 and referred to Lalime’s Martian mask as “iconic.”
“He’s an easy customer. He gave us some ideas and we just give him a sketch,” says Marsolais. “And on this one, I think the Martian was fitting better on the sides. And he didn’t want the Martian to be too big.”
“I didn’t want to do the same mask (as Lalime),” adds Korpisalo. “So I said let’s put it somewhere on the side because I think it’s pretty cool.”
Lalime admits he gets emotional any time he sees Korpisalo in the crease for Ottawa.
“It gives you goosebumps. It brings you back and puts a smile on my face. The years I had in Ottawa were the best years of my life,” says Lalime. “It’s nice of him to recognize the past. It’s a great heritage that we’re part of and it’s a great honour by him. It means a lot to me.”
Korpisalo is finally looking a little more comfortable and confident in the net for the Senators. After a shaky start — in which he yielded 12 goals and sported an .865 save percentage — Korpisalo has bounced back nicely in his last three appearances. Since coming in relief of Anton Forsberg in last weekend’s lopsided loss against Buffalo, Korpisalo has stopped 80 of the last 85 shots he’s faced — good for a .941 save percentage.
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On Saturday evening in Pittsburgh, Korpisalo was brilliant as the Senators were outshot 22-7 by the Penguins in the first period yet escaped with a 2-0 lead.
“That happens sometimes. You got to be ready for it,” Korpisalo said about the Penguins’ first-period barrage on Saturday. “The guys did a heck of a job blocking shots and letting me see the puck.”
“He was awesome (Saturday),” Brady Tkachuk said after the game. “He brings so much to our team. Not just the big saves, but the personality he has. He’s been great for us.”
When Korpisalo started on Saturday evening, it marked the first time this season coach D.J. Smith and goalie coach Zac Bierk deviated from the plan of alternating starts between their two goaltenders. Given Korpisalo’s hot stretch and a win over Pittsburgh on Saturday, it’s a safe bet he’ll be tabbed with the starting assignment for Ottawa’s Thursday night game against Los Angeles.
And Lalime — who is now a television analyst for TVA Sports — said he tries to tune into Senators games when he knows Korpisalo is in the crease for Ottawa.
“He’s a goalie I love watching. He’s so much fun to watch,” said Lalime. “And I think he’s going to help the Senators a lot this year.”
More trouble on the way for Ottawa?
As if the Shane Pinto gambling suspension wasn’t enough, there are significant rumblings of more off-ice trouble on the horizon for the Ottawa Senators.
And considering this notebook column started with an anecdote about Patrick Lalime’s old mask, it’s only fitting some credit goes to X user ‘Lalime’s Martian’ for initially hinting at an issue involving the Senators’ handling of Evgenii Dadonov on Thursday.
Then on Saturday night, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman expanded on the Dadonov topic, suggesting the NHL is on the precipice of sanctioning the Senators.
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“The reason it’s relevant now is because at some point in the next few days, the NHL is going to announce some sort of punishment to the Senators for that situation,” Friedman said.
Last week, Chris Johnston and I started to dig into this story for The Athletic. Our sense is there is an “active investigation” surrounding the circumstances of Dadonov’s botched trade from Vegas to Anaheim in 2022 and what role the Senators played in that debacle. I was told to be prepared for an announcement as early as Friday, but obviously that never came to fruition.
To recap the situation, the Senators signed Dadonov to a three-year contract in 2020 and, as part of that deal, granted Dadonov a 10-team no-trade clause. The contract included a stipulation that Dadonov needed to alert the Senators of the 10 teams he could not be traded to during the 2021-22 season by July 1, 2021. On July 28, 2021, the Senators sent Dadonov to Vegas in exchange for defenceman Nick Holden and a third-round pick. The Golden Knights were not one of the teams on Dadonov’s no-trade list, so Ottawa was free to send him there.
However, at the trade deadline in March 2022, the Golden Knights sent Dadonov to Anaheim in a move to clear salary-cap space. Within 48 hours. that trade was reversed by the NHL, who announced: “The trade could not be concluded because Dadonov’s contract includes a limited no-trade clause, which has not been complied with.” In other words, Anaheim was on Dadonov’s no-trade list — a list the Golden Knights were apparently unaware even existed in the first place.
The Golden Knights were left fuming and there has been a lot of discussion about what transpired during that initial trade call between Ottawa and Vegas.
As of this writing, Chris Johnston and I don’t have a clear understanding of why this has once again become the focus of an active league investigation. The Senators appeared to be cleared of any wrongdoing when the league conducted its initial investigation back in March 2022.
But whereas the league was intentionally vague in their press release announcing the Pinto suspension, I’m led to believe we will receive a crystal-clear explanation if any discipline comes down on Ottawa in this case. If the league is applying sanctions to the Senators, we should expect a thorough and detailed outline of why the club is being penalized now — 18 months after Dadonov’s cancelled trade from Vegas to Anaheim.
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In 2020, the NHL stripped a first- and second-round pick from the Arizona Coyotes after the league determined they violated the NHL’s combine testing policy.
The punishment was doled out by commissioner Gary Bettman, who said the Coyotes acted in a “grossly negligent manner.” Interestingly, Bettman did not implement a financial punishment on the Coyotes, opting to strip the franchise of draft picks instead.
“While the Combine Testing Policy Memoranda reference a fine of ‘no less than $250,000 for each violation’ of the Policy, I exercise my discretion to impose the aforementioned discipline-which I consider to be more appropriate given the specific circumstances of this case,” Bettman said in a statement issued on Aug. 26, 2020.
If the Senators face any discipline for this, it will be interesting to see how new owner Michael Andlauer reacts to the sanctions, considering he was not part of the organization at the time. But a loss of any draft capital would be damaging for an Ottawa franchise that has traded away its first-round pick in each of the past two NHL Drafts.
(Top photo of Joonas Korpisalo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
