The Bruins were shopping 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark at the trade deadline, as evidenced by reports he blocked a deal to the Kings with his 16-team no-trade clause. The Hurricanes were another one of the teams in talks to pick up the netminder, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast.
It’s fair to wonder if Boston and Carolina may re-engage on the framework of talks this summer with Ullmark still on the trade block. He has one season left on his contract with an affordable $5MM cap hit, and his no-trade list drops from 16 to 15 teams on July 1.
The Hurricanes got elite goaltending from Frederik Andersen in the regular season with a .932 SV%, but he was limited to 16 games due to blood clotting issues. He proceeded to struggle in postseason play, putting up an. 895 SV% as the Canes were eliminated by the Rangers in the second round thanks to a third-period collapse in Game 6.
Carolina has 24-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov waiting in the wings, too, after posting a .911 SV% in a career-high 40 starts, but advanced numbers suggest he wasn’t particularly far above average considering the shot quality he faced behind one of the best defenses in the league. He was good for 0.7 goals saved above expected on the year, per MoneyPuck – not a liability, but inferior to Ullmark’s consistently above-average showings since joining the Bruins in 2021-22.
In terms of a trade return, there’s a clear fit heading back from Boston to Carolina in pending restricted free agent forward Martin Nečas. Friedman didn’t disclose if he was part of trade discussions a few months back, but he certainly would be now if the teams resumed talks. He reported last week that Nečas’ ask on a contract extension is likely too far above what the Canes are willing to pay, and they’ll likely shop his signing rights this summer as a result.
While the Bruins’ offense performed better than expected after losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí to retirement, they were limited to 2.38 goals per game in 13 playoff showings. There’s a clear opportunity to upgrade their top six with some increased spending money this summer, boasting $20.9MM in cap space to fill six roster spots, per CapFriendly. A large portion of that will go to a new deal for RFA netminder Jeremy Swayman, but trading Ullmark would open up an additional $5MM to use to help shoulder a Nečas extension. Evolving Hockey projects a seven-year, $7.5MM AAV deal for Nečas this summer outside of Carolina.
Bruins need a center, not a guy who prefers to play on the wing. He’s good but not what I want in return
Certainly not if he’s gonna want 7@7.5
Yep better keep looking for a proper center
Hot Take
Lindholm goes to Boston for $1million more than he is worth. So $7.5×7
If you’re giving out that contract, I’d rather give it to Nečas (although consider you’d need to part with assets to get his signing rights). He’s younger, has not had consistent production decline like Lindholm the past two years, and had his career year while playing a decent amount at the center.
The notion that he prefers to play wing is largely incorrect, from my view – it’s a coaching decision, not his. I’d like to see him get a more extended look down the middle, and I can’t imagine a better situation for him than alongside Pastrňák.
Makes me wonder if all of these articles about dealing Ullmark will make Sweeney’s job tougher when it comes to actually making the deal. Because at this point the certainties are: Death, taxes, and the Bruins are trading Linus Ullmark. Unless Sweeney has already basically hammered out the deal & all he is waiting on is the optimal time to pull the trigger.