Bruins wrap up trade deadline day with NHL contract signing
A busy trade deadline day for Don Sweeney and the Bruins ended with another in-house signing for the Bruins.
It wasn’t a new contract for pending unrestricted free agent Jake DeBrusk. Or even a new, long-term extension for Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman. Instead, it was a move that came from the minor-league ranks, with Providence forward Joey Abate signed to a one-year, two-way contract worth a league minimum $775,000 at the NHL level.
The deal comes as a definite ‘upgrade’ for Abate, who had been with the club on a minors-only contract, and comes on the heels of the team shipping forward Luke Toporowski off to Minnesota in the team’s trade for Pat Maroon.
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A 25-year-old wing, Abate has scored two goals and established a career-high in both assists (eight) and points (10) through 41 games with AHL Providence this season. Abate, who is known as more of an energetic, agitator type, has totaled five goals and 16 points, along with 170 minutes in penalties, in 76 AHL games since the start of last season.
The deal is similar to the one signed by Justin Brazeau earlier this year, as it officially makes Abate eligible for an NHL recall should the Bruins want to get a look at him at the game’s highest level.
Prior to joining the Bruins, the Illinois-born Abate spent three seasons with the University of Nebraska (Omaha), and recorded 12 goals and 32 points in 85 games in the NCAA ranks.
The signing of Abate gives the Bruins 49 NHL contracts on their books.
So, what happened with Linus Ullmark on deadline day?
Nov 4, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. (Tim Fuller/USA TODAY Sports)
And while it more than checks out, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney opted not to outright throw Ullmark under the bus, and did not want to talk about whether or not Ullmark straight-up blocked a trade out of town.
“I mean, at the end of the day, I’m not ever going to get into a conversation with what I may have talked to Linus about,” Sweeney, who did make two trades by Friday’s 3 p.m. deadline, said when asked about that specific rumor. “I acknowledge we’ve explored different situations. And we had opportunities to move different players.
“But I’m not getting into the, you know, intricacies of what’s in somebody’s contract at this point in time.”
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – FEBRUARY 8: Linus Ullmark #35 of the Boston Bruins celebrates a shutout win against the Vancouver Canucks with teammate Matt Grzelcyk #48 at the TD Garden on February 8, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)
Now, when it came to the talk of an Ullmark trade, there was enough smoke to make Don Sweeney’s office look like Chelsea circa ’73. Elliotte Friedman wrote about it. Pierre LeBrun wrote about it. Weekes talked about it. These aren’t @TradeMan2023 with a paid-for blue checkmark tweeting out some nonsense for engagement dopamine. These were some of the game’s heavy hitters telling the world that yes, Ullmark could be on the move by the trade deadline.
An extremely thin goaltending market had a lot to do with that, of course. If the Bruins were going to trade a goaltender, the market put them in a wildly better position than when they were up against the cap last summer when people first started screaming for the Bruins to trade a goaltender. Comments from Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald, who ultimately settled for the Canadiens’ Jake Allen by the deadline, where he said teams with goalies were trying to ‘extort’ his club, only further that belief that the Bruins held all the chips (Ullmark’s trade protection notwithstanding) in a potential trade.
Fitzgerald does not mince words on goalie market: "There is a market. People performing have set that market. All I'm trying to do is be fair in that market, but you also need a team that wants to make fair deals, too, versus just extorting you for every big asset you have."
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) March 8, 2024So, was this something that Sweeney legitimately explored?
Oct 3, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) in goal during the second period against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)
“I really like the tandem and we have right now I’m very happy that we’ve stood pat there,” Sweeney told me. “Rumors are rumors in terms of what happens in private conversations. You guys know me well enough, it’s not coming from here in terms of what we’re trying to explore and what other teams are asking about. I made no bones and if I had to rob from a real strength as a hockey club that was something we may have to do, if that made our team ultimately better, and we didn’t move in that direction. But that’s not an indictment on the two great goaltenders we have. It’s actually been a real strength of our hockey club from day one, and it’ll continue throughout, and we feel very comfortable each and every night.”
It’s clear that the Swayman-Ullmark tandem has bailed the Bruins out countless times this year. The Bruins have the 12th-highest expected goals against this year, but have surrendered the seventh-fewest actual goals against this year. That’s just an absurd swing when you think about it, and it’s been from both goaltenders at various points this season. Their goaltending has probably been the second-best thing this team has beyond David Pastrnak’s superstar scoring abilities, really.
But I had to know, did Sweeney look at it from a point of view that there simply wasn’t a trade to be made that would bring him something greater than what they’re going to lose by moving Ullmark and disrupting the one-two in goal?
“Well, if we were going to do that and potentially weaken our hockey club in that area, it had to offset somewhere else, and we didn’t find the right situation that might have done that,” Sweeney told me. “I wasn’t overly aggressive about it. But I certainly was not unlike several other situations on the back end, and the forward group, that’s just the job. And I’ve said that before and I’m going to protect the conversations that I have because as I said before this is a human part of it you know.”
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – JANUARY 27: Linus Ullmark #35 of the Boston Bruins greets teammates before playing against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
As for what the Bruins could’ve acquired from the Kings, online rumblings suggested that Pierre-Luc Dubois was part of the would-have-been trade between the Bruins and Kings. For what it’s worth, that’s an idea that’s received some pushback, with some questioning if Dubois would be a true ‘culture fit’ for the Bruins. It’d also be almost impossible for the Bruins to fit Dubois and his $8.5 million cap hit into the equation without making it a much bigger trade.
If I had to guess, the Bruins probably would’ve wanted a high-end draft pick, and if not a high-end draft pick, someone such as forward Quinton Byfield (the No. 2 overall pick in 2020). If the market was as intense as Fitzgerald in New Jersey suggested, that’s the kind of ask that would’ve made sense from a Bruins point of view.
Especially when you look at the simple fact that the Bruins didn’t have to move Ullmark right now.
