There’s no such thing as having too much goaltending. In fact, for the Bruins, having ‘too much goaltending’ has turned out to be the team’s backbone for the last three seasons.
Whether it’s been Jeremy Swayman or Linus Ullmark leading the team out to the ice, the Bruins have had the wildly unique ability to roll out a legitimate No. 1 goaltender every night for the last three seasons. Not even a (failed) Tuukka Rask return in 2022 could disrupt the one-two punch the Bruins committed themselves to with the signing of Ullmark to a four-year, $20 million contract in 2021.
But in a hard cap league, there is such a thing as having too much money tied up in one position. And the Bruins may be on the precipice of experiencing exactly that with the 25-year-old Swayman up for a new contract, and with a monstrous contract surely awaiting him after a breakout postseason.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 30: Jeremy Swayman winks during the second period of Game Five of the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Maple Leafs at TD Garden on April 30, 2024. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
In the case of Swayman, who will be a restricted free agent (he’s arbitration-eligible once again but the Bruins don’t wanna go down that road again), Sweeney made it clear that getting a deal done is the club’s top priority this summer.
“Well it’s clearly a priority, and Jeremy [Swayman] knows, I told him, he took us to arbitration just for clarity,” Sweeney said when discussing a Swayman extension and what happened between the sides a year ago (something brought up by both parties multiple times now). “Again, that’s part of it. It’s no different than Trent Frederic and not being able to settle. Sometimes those things happen, of course, and it’s not an indication of whether or not we didn’t believe in Jeremy Swayman or whether or not we don’t think he could have been part of our future.”
Sweeney also confirmed a report from earlier in the year that indicated that the Bruins and Swayman had opened up extension talks. (That same report indicated that it could be a big-money deal for Swayman, too.)
“We clearly engaged in conversation during regular season to define the longer term extension, we haven’t gotten there yet, it’s a priority now and it will continue to be a priority until we get that across the finish line,” Sweeney revealed. “He’s a big part of our current team and our record in playoffs and our future. Our goaltending is arguably one of the best tandems in the National Hockey League, and they proved that during the course of the season. They put us in the situation most nights to have an opportunity to win. The priority will be to find a landing spot with Jeremy.”
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MAY 08: Jeremy Swayman of the Bruins warms up prior to Game Two of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on May 08, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. (Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
And Swayman, for what it’s worth, has no interest in leaving the Bruins. He’s even staying in Boston for the summer, in case you are wondering if the man who just rollerbladed by you is indeed Jeremy Swayman, there’s a non-zero chance that it was. So while this negotiation could get a bit laborious, there’s no chance that it ends with Swayman deciding that he’s had enough with Sweeney and the Bruins and demanding out.
But it is going to cost the Bruins a pretty penny. And for a whole lotta years.
Based on how Swayman played during the 2024 postseason, it’s fair to think that a Swayman long-term contract could check in between $7-8 million per season. That, with Ullmark entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $5 million cap hit, could be a massive problem for a B’s squad with a bunch of needs they want to address. Whether or not Sweeney wants to think that I’m on to something with that dollar figure.
When I asked Sweeney if it was realistic or feasible to commit $12 or $13 million in goaltending given their desire to address other areas of their roster, Sweeney instead thanked me for negotiating on Swayman’s behalf and complimented (I think?) my reverse engineering of the cap math before answering.
“We’re gonna find a landing spot with Jeremy Swayman, and if we can make the math work, we’re going to have the best tandem,” Sweeney told me. “If we can’t, we’re going to explore, 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.”
Apr 2, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) makes a save during the third period against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. (Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)
I do want to point out that my question to Sweeney began with the acknowledgement that Ullmark seems pretty content in Boston and sounds like someone who would exercise his no-trade clause to remain in Boston if given the option. So Sweeney noting that Ullmark ‘may change his mind’ could either be a confirmation that Ullmark blocked a trade at the 2024 trade deadline or that he’s let the Bruins know that he’ll do the same this summer. Or it could be Sweeney answering the possibility of my semi-hypothetical presented to him.
“Those things will take care of themselves,” Sweeney said. “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.”
Ullmark seems to be on the same page as Sweeney here, really, as he’s had no interest in sharing the details of his no-trade list whenever asked. I mean, he won’t even give hints about the teams on his list, and he wouldn’t even bite on assumptions about the list. All we know is that his no-trade list drops from 16 teams to 15 teams this summer.
“At times, unfortunately, things start to leak out. That’s your job, you guys do a hell of a job of figuring those things out and piecing them together,” Sweeney said. “Some guys are really wrong, but it doesn’t stop you from throwing it out there and that’s okay. It’s good for the business overall. It’s good for hockey, in terms of drawing, attention and eyes to it. So I understand.”
(Not gonna lie, my response to that part of the answer is one big question mark. For the record, I’ve said for almost a calendar year that Ullmark had no interest in waiving his no-trade clause to accept a trade out of Boston. And fans and readers crushed me for that all the while and I held firm on that belief. So if there’s a problem with that reporting, I don’t know what to say to that because, well, I’ve been 100 percent correct to date.)
Feb 22, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) against the Calgary Flames during the second period at Scotiabank Saddledome. (Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports)
But assuming that the Bruins realize that they have to make an Ullmark trade, Sweeney doesn’t necessarily think that the Bruins will be dealing from a disadvantaged position, which would’ve been the case in 2023.
“I think that goaltenders trade hands, you know, one went for the ninth overall [pick] one year,” Sweeney said, referencing the Cory Schneider to New Jersey trade that happened back in 2013. “So, it’s really what teams needs and what the market will bear, and ultimately it comes down to supply and demand, what a team wants and what you might have, ultimately, that generally shapes the trade market. There isn’t a lot of goaltenders in exchange, so it’s a small sample size to begin with, but arguably, they change and what other teams need will set the return.”
Referencing the first-round pick that moved from New Jersey to Vancouver some 11 years ago is interesting in the sense that a first-round pick may be what the Bruins are angling for in a potential Ullmark trade. That’s a respectable ask out of the gate given what the Bruins lack (high-end draft picks) and how they view Ullmark in terms of his importance to their roster.
The list of teams looking for goaltending help this summer is expected to feature the likes of the Kings, Devils, Senators, and Maple Leafs, while the Hurricanes and Oilers are two teams of note that could also be on the hunt for some help in goal this summer.
