Falling short of reaching the conference finals for the fifth consecutive season, the Boston Bruins are already transitioning to the offseason and the task to complete before the start of next season.
High on the agenda? Dealing with the goaltender conundrum and trying to move 1B Linus Ullmark to 1A Jeremy Swayman before the 2024 NHL draft takes place next June, per reports.
The Bruins have prioritized making that trade according to sources close to the team, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa reported on May 19.
“Moving Ullmark before the 2024 NHL Draft is a priority for the Bruins,” Shinzawa wrote. “Trading Ullmark for futures, as the market once projected, could get (Bruins’ General Manager Don Sweeney) and his scouts some much-needed action at the draft table in Las Vegas.”
Linus Ullmark Didn’t Want to Move Mid-Season
As Shinzawa writes in his story, Ullmark was concerned about being traded mid-season. Those issues, however, didn’t have to do with his potential destination, but rather with relocating his family.
“Ullmark expressed reservations about being moved before the March 8 trade deadline, primarily because an in-season deal might have required him to uproot his family,” according to a source close to the Boston Bruins goaltender speaking to Shinzawa.
After reporting that information, Shinzawa noted, “Whether Ullmark would feel the same way about an offseason trade is unknown.”
Both Ullmark and GM Sweeney have not revealed if the netminder executed his no-trade clause last March when Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported on March 8 that the Bruins “had a deal on the table” that “didn’t end up crossing the finish line.”
Ullmark has one season left on his four-year, $20 million contract expiring at the end of the 2024-25 campaign, and he won the Vezina Trophy award as the best NHL goalie in 2023.
Bruins’ Linus Ullmark Opens Up About His Situation & Future
Ullmark, after staying put in Boston, finished the 2023-24 season posting a .915 save percentage over 39 regular-season starts. Swayman, on an ever-increasing role, recorded a .916 save percentage in 43 starts.
Ullmark’s partner in net ended up as one of the key Bruins performers throughout the postseason. Swayman
