Will the Senators pursue Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark before the NHL Draft? originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
NHL teams in need of an upgrade at the goaltending position would do well to call Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney next month.
The Bruins have two of the league’s top 15 goaltenders in Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. Maintaining this tandem could get very expensive this offseason, as Swayman is eligible for new contract as a restricted free agent.
If the Bruins and Swayman can reach a long-term extension with a salary cap hit of $5 million or more, the team would be using more than $10 million of salary cap space on goaltenders for the 2024-25 campaign. Ullmark still has one year left on his contract with a $5 million cap hit. That would be a lot of money invested in the goaltending position, especially for a team like the Bruins who have several roster weaknesses to address in the offseason.
Swayman is Coming off an incredible run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs during which the 25-year-old star established himself as the franchise’s No. 1 goaltender.
The ideal outcome for the B’s would be to trade Ullmark before next season. Such a deal could net the Bruins valuable cap space and/or other assets such as draft picks or prospects.
Which teams could pursue a Ullmark trade? Keep an eye on a divisional rival, the Ottawa Senators.
“After failing in an attempt to acquire goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins at the NHL trade deadline in March, (Senators GM Steve) Staios and the club’s hockey operations department are expected to make another proposal before the scheduled draft for June 28-29 in Las Vegas”, Bruce Garrioch’s Ottawa Sun wrote last week.
“The Senators, Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils were among several teams that pressed 30-year-old Ullmark before the deadline.”
Ullmark has a 16-team no-trade roster in his contract, and moves to a 15-team roster in 2024-25, by CapFriendly. Therefore, Ullmark has some control over his future if the Bruins try to trade him.
The Senators were expected to take a leap as a franchise and make the playoffs last season. But the Senators never came close to clinching a postseason berth and finished 13 points behind the second wild card seed in the Eastern Conference. The main reason for Ottawa’s poor campaign in 2023-24 was poor goalkeeping performance. The Senators had a .884 save percentage as a team in the regular season, which placed 31st out of 32 teams.
It’s difficult to evaluate goalies on the trade market. Very few Vezina-winning netminders can negotiate. Recent trades involving quality goalkeepers have not produced surprising returns.
“A league executive said Thursday he believes the Senators would likely have to offer defenseman Jakob Chychrun along with a first-round pick and another selection to acquire Ullmark,” Garrioch wrote. “Still, he has the gavel because he has the modified no-trade clause.”
A first-round pick, another pick, and a legitimate top-four defenseman in Chychrun seems like an overpay from the Senators’ perspective. Ullmark is a very good goaltender and won the Vezina Trophy last season, but it would be very difficult for Ottawa to give up, especially when the Swedish goaltender is 30 years old and could leave as a free agent next summer.
The Senators have two first-round picks for 2024 — their own (No. 7 overall) and the Bruins (No. 25 overall). The Boston selection was originally sent to the Detroit Red Wings in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade in March 2023. The Red Wings moved him to the Senators as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade in July 2023.
If the Bruins could get a first-round pick in exchange for Ullmark, it would be an incredible return. But the most important thing the Bruins need to acquire in any potential Ullmark trade is salary cap space, because a few million extra dollars would go a long way in the team’s quest for additional scoring.
