Report: Senators making ‘hard push’ for Linus Ullmark on trade market originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The Ottawa Senators urgently need to upgrade their goaltending and, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, they have not relented in their pursuit of a Linus Ullmark trade with the Boston Bruins.
“Although league sources told Postmedia earlier in the day that the Senators had already stepped up their efforts to acquire goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, Ottawa may be the last serious team in the mix,” Garrioch wrote in a story published Wednesday.
Garrioch later wrote, “League sources say the Senators have gone back to the Bruins to see if there is an opportunity to acquire Ullmark to stabilize the club’s struggling network and those negotiations have intensified.” He also noted that Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios “has made a big effort to try to acquire Ullmark.”
The Senators ranked 31st out of 32 teams with an .884 save percentage last season. They also ranked 28th in goals conceded. Ottawa was a modern preseason pick to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, but subpar goaltending decimated any chance the franchise might have had of achieving that goal. With the result, the Senadores finished with 78 points in seventh place in the Atlantic Division.
Ullmark is arguably the best goalie left for the Senators to target on the trade market. Wednesday was a busy day for goalie negotiations as the Calgary Flames traded Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils and the capitals of Washington sent Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings.
Trading Ullmark could free up as much as $5 million in salary cap space for the Bruins and allow rising star Jeremy Swayman to be the undisputed #1 goalie In Boston. Swayman was fantastic during the Bruins’ 2024 playoff run, which ended with a Game 6 loss to the Florida Panthers in the second round.
Ullmark still has one year left on his contract with a $5 million cap hit. He is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2025. His current contract has a no-trade clause that allows him to veto a move to 15 teams, by CapFriendly.
