2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark creating problems for Bruins
After winning the Vezina Trophy in 2023, goaltender Linus Ullmark was nearly traded at this year's trade deadline and trade rumours continue to swirl into the 2023-24 offseason.
Last season, Ullmark went 40-6-1 in an historic season for the Bruins, posting a 1.89 GAA and a astounding .938 SV. This season, however, saw a huge drop off in his play.
Ullmark still posted a respectable 22-10-7 record in 2023-24, complete with a 2.55 GAA and a .915 SV%, well above the league average. However, his counterpart, Jeremy Swayman, was slightly better, posting a 25-10-8 record to go along with a 2.53 GAA and a .916 SV%.
The younger Swayman really took off in the postseason for the Bruins, posting a 2.15 GAA and a .933 SV% across 12 starts against the Leafs and Panthers, which bodes well for his future.
On the other side of things, Ullmark has been deemed to be worth more to the team as a trade chip than as a backup goaltender, much to his chagrin. Ullmark, by all appearances, loves it in Boston. Unfortunately, in a salary cap league, sometimes teams have to move good players to make way for other deals and to provide certain players with a greater opportunity.
Equally unfortunate for the Bruins, though, is the fact that Ullmark is the owner of a 16-team no-trade list and has blocked a trade to over half of the other 31 teams in the NHL. Now, according to a report from Bruins reporter Ty Anderson, Ullmark throwing a wrench in the Bruins' trade plans by refusing to waive his NTC for any of the teams on his 16-team no-trade list.
There are still 15 other teams with which Boston can negotiate a deal without requiring Ullmark's blessing, but when you factor in things like perhaps some teams not needing a goaltender, and the ever disruptive salary cap, the Bruins may wind up with only 4 or 5 times that they can negotiate a deal with.
As an added layer of intrigue, some of those teams may not even have the pieces that the Bruins are looking for in a trade, which may force them to get a little more creative than perhaps they hoped to be, perhaps even dealing within the Atlantic Division.
The Maple Leafs, for example, are looking to upgrade in net this summer. If Ullmark does not have the Leafs on his 16-team no-trade list, is it possible that we could see the Bruins deal the 30-year-old goaltender to a division rival like Toronto?
At any rate, there's a long summer ahead and I'm sure we'll see talks pick up surrounding Ullmark as we inch closer to the draft and free agency, but with Ullmark still having one year left on his current deal with a $5M cap hit, the options appear to be somewhat limited for the Bruins.
| POLL | ||
19 MAI | 374 ANSWERS 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark creating problems for Bruins Do you think the Bruins will trade Linus Ullmark this summer? | ||
| Yes, he'll be traded | 286 | 76.5 % |
| No, he'll remain in Boston | 88 | 23.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
