Report: Another team ‘stepping up’ in trade talks for Bruins’ Ullmark

A strangely busy day on the NHL trade market Wednesday saw not one but two potential Linus Ullmark trade destinations drop off the board for Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, with both the New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings finding their respective goalies.

In New Jersey, the Devils parted with defenseman Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected) to bring Jacob Markstrom over from Calgary. And mere hours later, the Kings (who tried to make a play for Ullmark at the 2024 trade deadline before Ullmark reportedly nixed a would-be trade) decided to address their goalie issue with a reunion, with Darcy Kuemper brought back to Los Angeles from Washington in a one-for-one trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois. That trade was as much about getting out of the Dubois contract as it was getting a goaltender, as the Kings were days away from Dubois and his no-movement clause kicking in and his signing bonus being paid out.

But the Ullmark trade market is not dead. Far from it, in fact, as the goaltending carousel has reportedly led to the Senators 'stepping up' for their efforts to make a play for the 2023 Vezina winner.

"Knowing there wasn’t a fit with Calgary, league sources say that Steve Staios, the Senators president of hockey operations and general manager, has been making a hard push to try to acquire Ullmark," Sens insider Bruce Garrioch wrote for the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday evening. "League sources say the Senators have circled back to the Bruins to see if there’s a fit to acquire Ullmark to steady the club’s struggling net and those talks have intensified."

This is not the first time that the Senators have been linked to Ullmark, with earlier reports indicating that the Senators were going to make him a top priority this summer and were willing to pay a premium for him. Ottawa's interest in the 6-foot-5 Ullmark also makes all the sense in the world, as the Sens are coming off what was a downright pitiful 2023-24 year in goal, with 3.43 goals against per game (fifth-worst in the NHL) and a team save percentage of .885 (second-worst in the league).

Given that the Flames were able to secure a first-round pick in the deal that sent the older (and with worse numbers) Markstrom to New Jersey, and considering Ottawa's similarly desperate thirst for goaltending help, it stands to reason that the Bruins would begin any talks with the Sens asking about a first-round pick in return.

And the Senators do possess two first-round picks in this year's draft, their natural coming at No. 7 overall, while they also possess the No. 25 overall pick, which originally belonged to Boston but was sent to Ottawa from Detroit in last year's trade for Alex DeBrincat. There's been rumblings that the Sens are interested in shopping their first-round picks around for help in the now, too.

Beyond the first-round pick, it's also been mentioned that the Senators may dangle defenseman Jakob Chychrun out there as a potential trade chip this summer. Chychrun, who put up 14 goals and 41 points this past season, is entering the final year of his current contract. The Bruins were linked to Chychrun prior to his move from Arizona to Ottawa, and Boston may have a need for another high-impact left-shot defenseman with Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort expected to depart as free agents and with just five left-shooting defensemen signed to NHL contracts for the 2024-25 season.

Of course, the big mystery in all of this is whether or not Ullmark would have any interest in going to Ottawa, and whether or not he would have say in that decision.

Ullmark's trade protection drops from 16 teams to 15 teams in 2024-25, and he's made it pretty clear that he has an extremely limited interest in leaving Boston.

The extra dash of intrigue in all of this is the belief that Ullmark would likely be more willing to waive his no-trade clause for a team on his list should that trade come with an extension, sources have told 98.5 The Sports Hub. That extension, however, cannot be signed until July 1, which adds some slight complications (meaning there would have to be a handshake agreement of sorts) if the Bruins wanted to get this deal done in time to pick in the first round of next Friday's 2024 NHL Draft in Vegas.

The 30-year-old Ullmark is entering the final year of a four-year, $20 million contract signed in 2021, and has posted an 88-26-10 record and .924 save percentage in 130 games with the Bruins.

What's expected to be a busy offseason for the Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney, who has cap space to his team's name for what feels like the first time in ages, has yet to get underway.

But with their critical dates already announced, the Bruins now have a preseason schedule to go along with their 2024 training camp slate, with a seven-game preseason on the docket for the B's this fall.

For the Bruins, the preseason schedule features the usual suspects, with series against the Rangers, Flyers, and Capitals. But this year's preseason will also include the always-rare visit to Canada, with the Bruins and Kings slated to square off in a preseason game up in Quebec City. (Where's Patrice Bergeron when you need him?)

The full schedule goes as follows...

For the second preseason in a row, the Bruins will kick their warm-up slate off with a 5 p.m., Sunday home-ice showdown with the New York Rangers. The top team in the NHL during the 2023-24 regular season, the Rangers dominated the Bruins in last year's season series, but could take a slight step back next season with defenseman (and former Bruins prospect) Ryan Lindgren due a substantial raise and with deadline pickups like Jack Roslovic and Alex Wennberg set to hit the open market as unrestricted free agents. Something of note with this game: This could be the first time we see center Matt Poitras back in game action after a shoulder injury ended his rookie season in 2023-24.

Another staple of the Black and Gold's preseason schedule, the Bruins and Capitals will continue the September edition of their rivalry with a showdown in Boston. The Capitals, who snuck into the second wild card spot in the East last season, went 2-0-1 against the Bruins last season. Given the fact that this is Boston's second home game of the preseason, you can expect to see a solid chunk of Boston's veterans make their preseason debut in this game.

The Bruins will take their preseason act on the road with a quick stop in Manhattan. By this game, we will almost certainly have seen every NHL-contending netminder on the Bruins' roster. That could be an interesting story to follow in camp should the Bruins move on from Linus Ullmark this offseason, too, especially with both Michael DiPietro and Brandon Bussi knocking at the door and out of minor-league options.

The Bruins took two of three head-to-heads with the Flyers during their three-game series during the 2023-24 season, and scored 14 goals over that three-game series. My favorite thing about the Flyers in the preseason is that John Tortorella seemingly hates the preseason and opts not to coach those games, often watching from the press box instead and letting his assistants handle the exhibition contests. I love this man. So much.

The Bruins will wrap up their preseason series with the Flyers with the second half of the home-and-home a few days later. Given the travel ahead of the Bruins following this game, it's worth wondering if Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery treats this game as the proverbial dress rehearsal for his team.

As previously noted, the lone interesting wrinkle of the B's seven-game preseason schedule will come with this game, which will take place up in Quebec City. The Bruins went 1-0-1 against the Kings in 2023-24.

By this game, absolutely everybody involved in training camp will be sick of training camp and the preseason and ready to get things underway. But it'll also be the final chance for some bubble players to make their roster push and avoid a trip to the always-uncertain waiver wire or a release from their tryout agreement with the club.