Make no mistake about it, the Bruins will have options when it comes to Linus Ullmark this summer.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney knows as much — and in a rare move given how he tends to conduct business through the media (he doesn’t) — has said as much.
“Those things will take care of themselves,” Sweeney said at management’s break-up day when discussing the uncertain future of Ullmark amid trade rumors and a massive payday awaiting restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman. “No conversation I’m going to have with a player in terms of what we’re trying to do, until we have to have a conversation, is really going to go public. I hope you all respect that because ultimately that’s as a player, a former player, I would hope would happen.
“We’re gonna find a landing spot with Swayman, and if we can make the math work, we’re going to have the best tandem. If we can’t, we’re going to explore [options], and for Linus, he may come to us and change his mind, that may occur as well. Right now we’re very happy to have signed Linus, and in a perfect world, we would keep the tandem because I think it’s damn good. But we’re going to explore opportunities. My phone’s going to ring, I’m going to make calls. That’s just what the job requires.”
And based on initial reporting, those calls have happened and will continue to happen in what’s sure to be an absolutely insanely busy for the Bruins.
Jan 29, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) stops Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) shot during the second period at PNC Arena. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)
At first glance, the Hurricanes seem relatively set in goal assuming that Andersen is indeed fully healthy moving forward. And the 34-year-old Andersen is a pretty solid ‘budget’ option, all things considered, as he’s entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $3.4 million cap hit. The Hurricanes also have standout rookie Pyotr Kochetkov (23 wins and a .911 save percentage in 40 starts last year) behind Andersen, and at $2 million.
But with the team still unable to get over the hump, sometimes due to goaltending instability, the Hurricanes could be looking for what they view as a potential upgrade in the 2023 Vezina winner and 6-foot-5 Ullmark.
Ullmark could also represent the chance for the Hurricanes to get an NHL-caliber return for restricted free agent and potential Carolina castoff Martin Necas. The belief around the league is that Necas views himself as something greater than the role he’s been given in Carolina, and that he would like to play somewhere he can play center (the Hurricanes have used Necas as a wing for the majority of his Carolina run). And given the complicated cap puzzle in front of interim general manager Eric Tulsky, it’s possible that Necas is on the outs no matter what.
One of the fastest skaters in the entire NHL, Necas is coming off a 2023-24 campaign that featured 24 goals and 53 points in 77 games, and a postseason run that included four goals and nine points in 11 games. Necas, who was the No. 12 overall pick in 2017, also hails from Czechia, giving him a natural connection with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. The trio all skated on the Czechia roster that just won the 2024 World Championships in Czechia, too.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MARCH 21: Goaltender Linus Ullmark #35 of the Boston Bruins makes a save on shot by Alex DeBrincat #12 of the Ottawa Senators during the second period at the TD Garden on March 21, 2023. (Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)
And north of the border, there’s talk of the Senators taking another run at acquiring Ullmark.
“[Steve] Staios and the club’s hockey operations department are expected to make another pitch before the draft set for June 28-29 in Las Vegas,” Senators insider Bruce Garrioch wrote last week. “The Senators, Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils were among several teams that made a push for the 30-year-old Ullmark before the deadline.”
A natural problem for a team like the Senators may come back to Ullmark’s no-trade list, with Ullmark both clear on the fact that he wants to stay with the Bruins and hyper-mindful of going to a potentially bad team.
“It’s very hard,” Ullmark said of his no-trade list and waiving it for a team on the list. “I mean, like I said, we don’t really have all these luxuries to really tell like, ‘I don’t want to be at certain areas.’ And there might be other things as well throughout your career that let’s say, for example, you have one team that would be on the West Coast that is really, really bad and you have them on your trade list. But then all of a sudden, maybe three years later, they’re not [bad]. They might be a contender.
“You can just look at Edmonton or whatever and look at those teams that might have been really bad, but now are really good. You might want to waive at that point, but you can’t really think about that, you know, in advance [like] how are these teams going to be in three or four years? You can’t really look into your little [crystal] ball in the future and say, ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to be, I’m going to go there’ and whatever because it might go to shit as well.”
Mar 27, 2024; Buffalo, New York, USA; Ottawa Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun (6) waits for the face-off during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports)
There are obvious workarounds to any limitations or concerns when it comes to moving Ullmark. As Sweeney said, perhaps Ullmark is willing to change his mind on a certain city or location he once passed on. It’s also possible that a big-money extension with his next team could become a determining factor for Ullmark waiving his no-trade.
But what could the Bruins want or expect out of a deal with Ottawa?
“A league executive said Thursday he believes the Senators would likely have to offer defenceman Jakob Chychrun along with a first-round pick and another selection to acquire Ullmark,” Garrioch wrote. “Even then, [Ullmark] has the hammer because he does have the modified no-trade clause.”
If that’s the trade on the table, the Bruins would likely say yes a thousand times over, and do whatever they possibly could to get Ullmark to say yes to waiving his no-trade. (Throw him another Polestar or seven, I don’t know.)
Chychrun, like Ullmark, is entering the final year of his current contract (which comes with a $4.6 million cap hit), but would present the Bruins with the option to build out a long-term left-side defense featuring Chychrun, Mason Lohrei, and Hampus Lindholm all under team control for the foreseeable future. The Bruins were believed to be in the mix for Chychrun, who put up 14 goals and 41 points in 82 games this year, prior to his trade from Arizona to Ottawa.
As far as the first-round pick, it is worth noting that Ottawa possesses a 2024 first-round pick that originally belonged to Boston, but was traded to Detroit in 2023 for Tyler Bertuzzi and later flipped to Ottawa for Alex DeBrincat.
