Latest report on Linus Ullmark trade market as NHL Draft approaches originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
This will be a busy week for the NHL.
It all starts on Monday night when the Edmonton Oilers look to make history against the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers trailed the series 3-0 but fought to the end to force a showdown winner-takes-all drama.
After the Stanley Cup is awarded, the offseason should really improvestarting with the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday (round one) and Saturday (rounds two through seven).
The commercial market will also be interesting to monitor, especially when it comes to goalkeepers. We saw two veteran goalies – Jakob Markstrom (Flames to Devils) and Darcy Kuemper (Capitals to Kings) – negotiated last week.
Will Boston Bruins’ Linus Ullmark be the next notable goaltender traded? How is the goalkeeper market after last week’s two deals?
“I think it’s put a lot of focus on Linus Ullmark, there’s no doubt about that,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Sunday on NHL Network.
“Boston and Ottawa have been working on something. There’s the challenge of Ullmark’s 14-team no-trade list, but there’s also the challenge of an extension. Boston is expecting a higher price than New Jersey paid for Markstrom. And the teams, including Ottawa, who are looking at this, they say, ‘We’re not interested in paying that price if it doesn’t come with an extension.’ So now the challenge is: can you find an extension that will make Ullmark and a team like the Senators happy?
It makes sense that the Senators, or any team interested in Ullmark, would want him to sign an extension as part of the trade.
It would be foolish for these teams to pay a high price to acquire Ullmark and then risk him leaving as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2025. He only has one year left on his contract with a $5 million salary cap hit.
The Senators are in dire need of a goaltending upgrade after ranking 31st in save percentage and 28th in goals allowed last season. Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy in 2022-23 and then posted a 22-10-7 record with a .915 save percentage and a 2.58 GAA last season.
The Devils sent a 2025 first-round pick and 23-year-old defenseman Kevin Bahl to the Flames in exchange for Markstrom. If Bruins general manager Don Sweeney could achieve something similar for Ullmark, that would be a win for the Original Six club.
