Bruins Have Made Their Decision: Ullmark probable offseason trade candidate

The Boston Bruins have made their pick in net after going back and forth between goalies Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark throughout the season, including the first round of the playoffs.

Ullmark had the stronger season in 2022-23, winning the Vezina Trophy, but Swayman was the superior goalie this time, getting a few more starts. This led to Swayman receiving the call in Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which the Bruins won.

BRUINS TREND BROKEN

Jim Montgomery and crew didn’t want to break the Bruins’ season-long pattern, so they began Ullmark in Game 2, resulting in a loss. From then, Swayman took control and has started eight of the last nine games, including back-to-back outings in which he has conceded four or more goals.

Following a 6-1 setback to the Florida Panthers in the second game of the second round, the Bruins returned to Swayman and were given another loss. While conceding nine goals in two games is not ideal for Swayman, the Bruins haven’t given him much help in the last two games of the series. Four of the Panthers’ goals in Game 3 came on the power play, and there were some unusual bounces to go with them.

The back-and-forth between goalies came to an end after Swayman conceded three goals in the first two games versus Toronto, stopping 63 of 66 shots. In his only postseason start, Ullmark allowed three goals and lost. The Bruins’ main concern was failing to meet expectations by failing to go beyond the first round as the better seed, but Swayman ensured that did not happen with a first round save percentage of.950.

ULLMARK’S TIME IN BOSTON COMING TO AN END

While the Bruins have done well with Swayman and Ullmark in recent seasons, this was at a time when Swayman was still growing into a starter and wasn’t overly expensive. We’ve reached the stage where both are excellent NHL starters, and it’s impractical to keep both and pay them when the rest of the team isn’t being addressed properly.

This is not to imply that it was a bad idea to go back with both this season. Previously, Swayman had not performed as well as he has in the playoffs this season. After starting the majority of games in the regular season (43) over the reigning Vezina champion and 9/10 in the playoffs to this point, he has established himself as a clear starter and is well-liked in Boston.

Ullmark has a $5 million AAV cap hit for one more season before becoming a free agent. The Bruins might have used that much money last offseason to avoid losing Tyler Bertuzzi or trading Taylor Hall.

Ullmark’s contract includes a 16-team no-trade list, which will be reduced to 14 teams for the 2024-25 season. The Bruins can work with this, though, because plenty of teams are looking for serious goaltender help, with Boston potentially being the only team capable of providing it.

It was also claimed that Ullmark vetoed a trade to the Los Angeles Kings before the trade deadline, indicating that the Bruins are looking for a deal to keep Swayman as their starter.

It was not easy to sign Swayman to a contract for this season, as the process took until August 1, 2023, despite the fact that he was able to sign an extension on July 1, 2022. With hardly enough money to spend, the Bruins were able to agree on a one-year contract worth $3.475 million. That means he’ll be looking for a new contract after taking over as starter, and he’ll be asking for more than Ullmark. Swayman is younger and has shown improvement this season, so he has every right to do so, and it makes sense.

The Bruins will undoubtedly want to compete with their current squad, so allocating so much money to a tandem when one can do the job quite well makes little sense. If Swayman can start 43 games, he can play 50 or more. In my perspective, this is when the unmistakable distinction between a tandem and a major starter with a backup begins.

Regardless of Swayman and Ullmark’s friendship, the NHL is a business, and the goal is to win. Regardless of what happens during the regular season, these two have yet to win together. Because Swayman is so good in net, it is the one component of the team that can be changed to free up cap cash without having a significant detrimental impact.