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Linus Ullmark

Senators Hoping To Extend Ullmark, Not Done Making Moves

June 25, 2024 at 9:29 am CDT | by Gabriel Foley 3 Comments

Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios went on Ottawa radio show TSN 1200 on Tuesday morning to discuss the aftermath of his first big move with the team – the acquisition of former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. The Senators gave up this year’s 25th-overall pick and players Joonas Korprisalo and Mark Kastelic for Ullmark, and don’t plan on letting their new star walk soon – with Staios sharing the team is already focused on an extension, captured by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). Staios added that an extension is all part of the process and thus may not come quickly, though it is a priority.

Ullmark will begin the final year of a four-year, $20MM contract signed with the Bruins in 2021. He’s emerged as a star goaltender on the deal, so far recording 88 wins and a collective .924 save percentage in 130 games on the contract. That stat line includes his Vezina-winning performance in 2023, when Ullmark posted 40 wins and a .938 save percentage in 49 games. The dazzling year not only earned him the Vezina – and he and Jeremy Swayman the William Jennings Trophy – but also ranked Ullmark tenth in Hart Trophy voting.

The 2022-23 season elevated Ullmark into the conversation with goaltenders like Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Naturally, it took a significant amount of time for the Senators to work out a deal for that caliber of player, with Ullmark trade-talks starting at the 2024 Trade Deadline, shares Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia Hockey (Twitter link). Ullmark was a very popular name at the Deadline, using his no-movement clause to reject a move to the Los Angeles Kings and even ending up in discussions of a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. Boston wasn’t able to find a move that worked, though, and now settles for what many argue is a meager return from the aggressive Senators.

Per Staios, that aggression on the market isn’t set to end any time soon. The team will continue to look at all of their trade options leading up to the draft, including continuing to shop around the seventh-overall pick, shares Scanlan (Twitter link). Ottawa is also poised to test the free agent market after July 1st, with Staios sharing that the team is looking to add pieces to build around their strong core (Twitter link). Staios didn’t specify who these core pieces were, though he did express a lot of hope in their ability to take the next step under new head coach Travis Green. Ottawa has each of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot signed through at least the next three seasons. With extensions to Ullmark and Shane Pinto, the Senators would solidify a young cohort of talent that stretches through the bottom of their lineup.

Staios’ faith in his lineup was apparent through his interview, with the rookie GM even heaping praise onto the depth of his coaching staff, which features Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Yeo, Nolan Baumgartner, and Ben Sexton behind Green. The Senators are entering the summer with a measly $11.3MM in cap space – and will need to be smart spenders as they prepare for a hefty Ullmark extension. But it seems the eagerness to build a contender is there – giving Senators fans plenty to be excited about after a year of major turnover.

Ottawa Senators| Players| Steve Staios Linus Ullmark

3 comments

Senators Acquire Linus Ullmark

June 24, 2024 at 6:46 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 50 Comments

With Jeremy Swayman set to land what’s expected to be a significant contract as a restricted free agent this summer, it has been widely expected that the Bruins would be moving out Linus Ullmark.  That move has now happened as Ullmark has been moved to Ottawa in exchange for the 25th pick in this week’s draft, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic.  Both sides have announced the swap which also sees the Senators retaining 25% of Korpisalo’s contract.

Ullmark has spent the last three seasons with Boston after signing a four-year, $20MM contract with them in free agency back in 2021.  It’s fair to say that the move worked out quite well for both sides.

After struggling with inconsistency throughout his time in Buffalo, the 30-year-old has become one of the top netminders in the NHL.  In 2022-23, he played in a platoon with Swayman but was nothing short of dominant, winning 40 of 48 starts while posting a league-best 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%.  That helped him earn his first career Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Goalie of the Year.

Not surprisingly, those numbers dropped this season although coming off the year he had, that was to be expected.  Even so, Ullmark was still above average, putting up a 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 39 starts.  However, he was limited to just two postseason appearances (one start) with Swayman getting the bulk of the workload.

With Swayman set to command a long-term deal and having arbitration eligibility for the second year in a row, it wouldn’t have been feasible for Boston to keep both netminders in the fold.  Doing so would have made them one of the highest-spending teams on goaltenders which would have cut into their flexibility to fill some other needs this summer.

Meanwhile, from Ottawa’s standpoint, a move to shore things up between the pipes has been an annual occurrence recently with middling results at best.  Last summer, Korpisalo was brought in on a five-year, $20MM contract following a strong bounce-back year with Columbus and Los Angeles.  However, instead of turning things around in goal, he struggled considerably, posting a 3.27 GAA and a career-worst .890 SV%.  Boston will assume a $3MM cap charge on Korpisalo for the next four years while Ottawa will carry $1MM of dead cap charges for that time.  They’ll be hoping that in a better-structured system, he could put up similar numbers to the ones he put up with the Kings down the stretch in 2023, another defensive-oriented team.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better; while his GAA was a little better at a still-below-average 3.21, his save percentage also checked in at .890.  Meanwhile, their potential goalie of the future Mads Sogaard also struggled, coming up with a 4.05 GAA and a .859 SV% in his six NHL appearances.  Knowing that, many expected that they would be making another attempt to upgrade in goal this summer; Ullmark certainly represents one.  The Sens were believed to be interested in acquiring Ullmark during the season although that never came to fruition with Ottawa believed to be on Ullmark’s partial no-trade list.  Evidently, he had a change of heart to help facilitate the move.

Once July 1st comes around, Ullmark will become extension-eligible as he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract.  No informal agreement is in place yet although Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are working on getting an extension in place.  If that happens, he’d become their long-term starter with Sogaard likely getting the full-time promotion to the NHL to serve as his backup starting in 2025-26 after Forsberg’s contract comes to an end.

Meanwhile, Boston is also adding a rugged fourth liner in Kastelic.  The 25-year-old played in 63 games with the Sens this season, collecting five goals, five assists, 63 penalty minutes, and 126 hits while averaging a little less than eight minutes a night.  For his NHL career, Kastelic has 25 points and 331 hits in 144 games with Ottawa.  He’s signed through the upcoming season at a $835K cap charge and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time so he could be in their plans for a couple of years at least.  The Bruins have several pending unrestricted free agents up front so Kastelic will be taking the place of one of those players.

Boston will also get to do something they haven’t been able to do lately and that’s draft in the first round.  Assuming they hold onto the pick, this will be the first time that they picked on the opening day of the draft since 2021 when they took Fabian Lysell 21st overall.  Interestingly enough, that pick has been well-traveled.  It’s Boston’s own selection but they originally moved it for Tyler Bertuzzi at the 2023 trade deadline.  Detroit then sent it to Ottawa as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade last offseason and now it has returned to the Bruins.

The move winds up being relatively cap-neutral for both sides.  In the end, Boston saves $1.165MM with the swap, bringing their cap space for this coming summer to just under $21.6MM, per CapFriendly.  Meanwhile, the Sens are now down to $11.3MM in room, per CapFriendly.  We’ll find out in the coming days how the teams plan to spend the bulk of those funds.

Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald was the first to report that Ullmark was heading to Ottawa.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Boston Bruins| Newsstand| Ottawa Senators Joonas Korpisalo| Linus Ullmark| Mark Kastelic

50 comments

Morning Notes: Golden Knights, Red Wings, Drouin

June 24, 2024 at 8:26 am CDT | by Josh Cybulski 2 Comments

The Vegas Golden Knights have reportedly been in talks with the Boston Bruins about acquiring goaltender Linus Ullmark (as per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia). The news is a bit surprising given the Golden Knights’ depth at the position, however, Vegas has received interest in their own goaltenders and might see Ullmark as a way to improve their netminding in the short term.

Boston has reportedly been looking at a center in exchange for Ullmark, and Vegas could potentially make that happen although it would create a hole in their forward group. The Golden Knights currently have Adin Hill and Logan Thompson under contract for next season, however, neither goalie was able to grab the net last season and both men posted save percentages below .910. It’s always interesting to see Vegas pop up in trade negotiations as they have a recent history of getting the players that they target, and Ullmark would certainly solidify the position for the team for the next couple of seasons.

In other morning notes:

  • Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that the Detroit Red Wings have had talks with the Boston Bruins regarding goaltender Linus Ullmark. Garrioch didn’t specify when the trade talks took place, but it is possible they happened before Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said that he wasn’t interested in a veteran goalie who wouldn’t be with Detroit in 2-3 years (as per Sean Shapiro). Yzerman also told the media he wasn’t opposed to improving Detroit’s goaltending if something made sense, and Ullmark would be a dramatic improvement over any of the other netminders in Detroit’s depth chart. Detroit gave up 274 goals last season, finishing 24 out of 32 teams.
  • Colorado Avalanche writer Adrian Dater tweeted that he believes the Avalanche will re-sign forward Jonathan Drouin. Dater called his speculation “an educated guess” but added that there are still conversations between the team and the 29-year-old pending unrestricted free agent. Drouin came over to the Avalanche last summer as a free agent, signing a bargain one-year contract for $825K. That deal was an absolute steal for Colorado as Drouin regained his offensive form and tallied 19 goals and 37 assists. Any long-term deal with Drouin will carry a certain degree of risk given his play in previous years, however, he should be able to fetch a short-term commitment this summer with a healthy AAV.

Colorado Avalanche| Detroit Red Wings| Vegas Golden Knights Jonathan Drouin| Linus Ullmark

2 comments

East Notes: Lightning, DeBrusk, Ullmark

June 22, 2024 at 10:05 am CDT | by Josh Cybulski 4 Comments

Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times expects the Tampa Bay Lightning to make a trade in the near future to cut costs as they try to find room to sign pending free agent captain Steven Stamkos to a contract extension. The Lightning are up against the cap with just $5.335MM in cap space and have just 18 active roster players signed for next season.

Encina looks at the contracts of Tanner Jeannot and Erik Cernak as possibilities to move on from. Jeannot has struggled since coming over from Nashville for five draft picks and Callan Foote and is slated to make $2.665MM next year, while Cernak is owed $5.2MM. Jeannot seems like the likelier of the two to be moved as he has just a year left on his contract at half the cost and has already been linked to multiple teams.

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Nick Kypreos speculates in the Toronto Star that the Toronto Maple Leafs have interest in pending free agent forward Jake DeBrusk. The 27-year-old has haunted the Maple Leafs in the playoffs could slide into the team’s top six if they don’t bring back Max Domi or Tyler Bertuzzi. DeBrusk is coming off a disappointing season with the Boston Bruins, tallying just 19 goals and 21 assists in 80 games. However, the Edmonton, Alberta native is just a year removed from a 27-goal season and has surpassed 25 goals on three separate occasions.
  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on 32 Thoughts that he believes that a big holdup on the Linus Ullmark trade is a potential contract extension being worked out. Friedman points out that a lot of teams aren’t interested in paying the Bruins high asking price for a goaltender that would only be a rental and would like an extension in place before making the deal. Friedman also notes that in the case of a team like the Ottawa Senators, he would have to waive his no-trade clause and likely work out an extension with the team to make the trade happen. Boston has held firm on their asking price in recent weeks but might have to adjust it as some teams that were in on Ullmark have already addressed their goaltending situation, and there are other potential available options on the market.

Boston Bruins| Tampa Bay Lightning| Toronto Maple Leafs Jake DeBrusk| Linus Ullmark

4 comments

East Notes: Ullmark, Flyers/Senators Talks, Potulny

June 19, 2024 at 6:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 15 Comments

With Jacob Markstrom now in New Jersey, the Senators have stepped up their efforts to acquire Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  Ullmark saw his numbers drop this year compared to his Vezina-winning 2022-23 campaign but he still posted a solid 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 40 games.  Those numbers would represent a significant improvement on the 3.30 and .888 that Ottawa put up as a team in 2023-24.  Ullmark has one year left on his contract with a $5MM price tag and it’s worth noting that he has a 16-team no-trade clause so he does have some say in where he could ultimately be moved.

Meanwhile, Garrioch adds that the Bruins don’t have interest in taking back the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract as expected.  However, with Anton Forsberg ($2.75MM) set to enter the final year of his deal next season, Boston could be amenable to taking him back, allowing the Senators to reduce the additional salary they’re taking on.  That said, Garrioch notes that there is still work to be done before this possible swap has a chance of reaching the finish line.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • We’ve had three trades announced today and it appears progress was made on another one. TSN’s Travis Yost suggests (Twitter link) that the Senators and Flyers have the framework of a deal in place although it might not be announced until closer to the trade. No specifics as to who was involved were provided but those teams could be worth keeping an eye on in the coming days.
  • It appears that the Rangers are closing in on finding their next head coach at AHL Hartford. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Grant Potulny is expected to become the Wolf Pack’s next head coach.  Potulny spent the last seven seasons at Northern Michigan before resigning recently, citing a desire to pursue a position in professional hockey.  Kris Knoblauch started the season in Hartford before being hired away by Edmonton while Steve Smith served as the interim bench boss for the rest of the season.

AHL| Boston Bruins| New York Rangers| Ottawa Senators| Philadelphia Flyers Anton Forsberg| Joonas Korpisalo| Linus Ullmark

15 comments

Senators Aggressively Pursuing Goaltending Upgrade

June 10, 2024 at 11:24 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 17 Comments

The Senators may add their name to the goalie carousel this summer. As the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes, general manager Steve Staios is becoming intent on upgrading the club’s situation between the pipes.

The Sens thought they had their man last summer when previous GM Pierre Dorion inked Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $20MM contract in free agency. The 30-year-old’s market value was at an all-time high after a strong stint to finish 2022-23 with the Kings, but he was unable to keep it going in Ottawa in his first full season as a true starter.

His 49 starts and 21 wins were career-highs, but there wasn’t much else to write home about his season. Korpisalo’s .890 SV% and 3.27 GAA both ranked near the bottom of the list of starters, and his -16.1 goals saved above expected was second-worst in the league to Chicago’s Arvid Söderblom, per MoneyPuck.

With new management in town and a clear directive to end the Sens’ seven-year playoff drought, one season of below-average play appears enough for a serious change to be considered. They’ve been “one of the most aggressive teams” in trade discussions for Flames netminder Jacob Markström, a league executive told Garrioch, and they’ve also contacted the Bruins about trading for 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.

Even with the salary cap’s upper limit increasing to a record $88MM, the Sens may find themselves in a little bit of a cap crunch this summer. They’ve got $12.5MM in projected space with anywhere from five to seven roster spots to fill, including a new deal for pending RFA Shane Pinto. Offloading Korpisalo with four years left on his deal may be unrealistic in a goalie trade, but repurposing backup Anton Forsberg’s $2.75MM in a trade, along with many other parts for a starter, could help ease any financial considerations.

They’re not viewed as the favorites for either Markström or Ullmark, though. The Devils have positioned themselves as the frontrunner in Markström talks. While it’s not clear who’s put together the most competitive offer to the Bruins for Ullmark, he’s got a 16-team no-trade list. The stuck-in-low-gear Senators might very well be on it. Even if Markström wasn’t so closely tied to New Jersey, he boasts a full no-move clause and could block a trade.

Nonetheless, it would be smart to count the Sens in for nearly every netminder who finds himself on the block this summer.

Newsstand| Ottawa Senators Jacob Markstrom| Linus Ullmark

17 comments

Morning Notes: Ullmark, Saros, Bemstrom

June 8, 2024 at 10:02 am CDT | by Josh Cybulski 4 Comments

Andrew Fantucchio of Boston Hockey Now writes that in his opinion the Boston Bruins have no reason to be in a hurry to trade goaltender Linus Ullmark as he has one year left on his deal and the Bruins could conceivably keep the netminder for the remainder of his deal. Ullmark has a lot of contractual control over where he is traded and could nix trades to nearly half of the league.

Goaltenders have been traded in recent years for a minimal return, including recent Vezina Trophy winners. However, as Fantucchio writes, the Ullmark situation is different than that of Marc-Andre Fleury who was dealt in July 2021 in what amounted to a salary cap dump. Fantucchio theorizes that if the Bruins are patient with the Ullmark trade it could drive up the asking price as teams might become desperate for goaltending as the market dries up.

In other morning notes:

  • It appears that Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros is prepared to let the goaltender market develop before signing his next deal. Jonathan Bailey of Nashville Hockey Now writes that Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet made his weekly appearance on 102.5 The Game on the Caroline, Willy, and D-Mase show to discuss the future of the Predators netminder. On the show, Friedman said that Saros is willing to see what kind of a contract New York Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin signs before he signs a new contract. Shesterkin figures to sign the richest goalie contract ever, and while Saros won’t reach the same kind of money, he can likely command a large percentage of that.
  • Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that he doesn’t think the Pittsburgh Penguins will offer restricted free agent Emil Bemstrom a contract before the June 25th deadline to submit a qualifying offer. Bemstrom was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and struggled to carve out a role in Pittsburgh despite the Penguins having a very poor bottom-six forward group. The 25-year-old is due a $945K qualifying offer and given the Penguins’ shortcomings it would be reckless to allocate that kind of cap space on a player that would be a 13th forward.

Boston Bruins| Nashville Predators| Pittsburgh Penguins Emil Bemstrom| Juuse Saros| Linus Ullmark

4 comments

Bruins, Hurricanes Could Swap Linus Ullmark and Martin Necas

June 6, 2024 at 9:22 am CDT | by Gabriel Foley 22 Comments

The Boston Bruins are continuing to garner more and more interest for their former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark, giving them a chance to be picky about the return. That could exclude much of the league from acquiring the star netminder, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman sharing on The Jeff Marek Show that he doesn’t believe teams like the Vancouver Canucks or Montreal Canadiens have the assets to acquire Ullmark. Friedman added that the Carolina Hurricanes could be one of the few teams rich enough for the deal, especially if they involve forward Martin Necas.

Necas has been a recent addition to trade rumors, with Friedman recently sharing that the Hurricanes “prefer” to trade the pending restricted-free-agent rather than re-sign him and that they were eyeing top prospects in return. Necas, the 12th-overall pick in 2017, posted a career-high 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games last season. He succeeded it with a much more modest 53 points this year, though he still managed 24 goals. Necas has totaled 243 points across 362 career games, working his way into a regular role in Carolina’s top-six after growing pains early in his career. At just 25, Necas represents one of the best young scorers on the open market and should be poised for a long-term deal with a yearly price tag of around $7.5MM.

Adding young, secondary scoring is a big priority for the Bruins entering this off-season, giving relief to the more surprising pieces of their top-six, like Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. On top of his offense, Necas could also support the team’s center depth, after recording a career-high 417 faceoffs last sesaon. He won 45.1 percent of those draws, bringing his career total to 41.5 percent at the faceoff dot. That’s certainly not strong enough to warrant an everyday role at center, but it could be a welcome boost for a Bruins lineup that still hasn’t reloaded their depth chart after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired. Ullmark could be a small price to check off two big boxes for Boston.

But shaping a trade package around Necas and Ullmark will be tricky. There isn’t much precedent for swapping top-end goalies and forwards, though each of Frederik Andersen, Robin Lehner, Cory Schneider, and Semyon Varlamov were traded for first-round picks at some point in their careers. Two of those trades didn’t involve any other pieces, while the other two added a second-round pick onto the pile. That’s a bleak valuation of top goalies on the trade market, made more challenging by Necas’ RFA status making him a much more controllable asset than the 2025-UFA Ullmark. Those factors could put Carolina in a good position to ask for even more Ullmark in a swap, especially as interest in Necas grows across the league.

The Hurricanes would confidently round out their lineup with Ullmark’s addition, while moving out a winger set to command a good deal of cap space. That’d be a fantastic win-win for interim general manager Eric Tulsky, who’s in his first tenure as an NHL GM after Don Waddell left Carolina for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Carolina is also facing contract negotiations with Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei this summer – surely pushing them to want an answer on Necas sooner rather than later.

Photos courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.

Boston Bruins| Carolina Hurricanes| NHL Linus Ullmark| Martin Necas

22 comments

Jacob Markstrom, Linus Ullmark Are Devils’ Top Goalie Targets

June 5, 2024 at 10:53 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 18 Comments

The Devils’ pursuit of a bonafide starting goaltender has been a dominant storyline for months and remains one of the few certainties of the summer. While there are more than a handful of qualified names on the trade block, the Flames’ Jacob Markström and the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark are the two likeliest names that New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald would swing a deal for, sources told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Tuesday.

Fitzgerald also confirmed to reporters yesterday that he would make the Devils’ 2024 first-round pick, 10th overall, available in trade talks. In what’s viewed as a deep class of high-end talent, that pick could very well be enough to pry Markström or Ullmark away from their respective teams, although a low-to-medium-value asset may also be required.

The other big fish on the goalie trade market, 2022 Vezina Trophy nominee Juuse Saros, doesn’t appear likely. He’s only been connected to the Devils sparingly in recent weeks and wasn’t mentioned at all as an option for New Jersey in LeBrun’s reporting yesterday.

Markström and Ullmark are the elder statesmen of the group, but as such, could cost less to acquire than the sub-30 Saros. Ullmark finds himself in the conversation after throwing up a .924 SV% average over three seasons with the Bruins, but he’s only started more than half his team’s games in a season once. That was Boston’s record-setting 2022-23 campaign when he won the Vezina Trophy after recording a 40-6-1 record, .938 SV% and 1.89 GAA.

Markström’s numbers have been more inconsistent over the past few seasons, but he has a much longer track record of being a true starter. The 34-year-old Swede has started more than half his team’s games in each of the last seven years and is two years removed from a league-leading nine shutouts that helped him earn his only career Vezina nomination in 2022.

He’s coming off a verifiably above-average season, too, posting a .905 SV% and stopping 13.7 goals above expected (MoneyPuck) despite a .500 record. The other advantage is his contract – he’s got two seasons left at a $6MM cap hit compared to Ullmark, who’s only signed through next season.

Markström isn’t the higher-ceiling option, but he may be the safer one. He carries a full no-move clause, but multiple reports indicated he waived it for a move to New Jersey before this season’s trade deadline that ultimately fell through. LeBrun confirmed that notion yesterday.

Boston Bruins| Calgary Flames| New Jersey Devils| Newsstand Jacob Markstrom| Linus Ullmark

18 comments

Latest On Linus Ullmark

May 30, 2024 at 8:01 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski 34 Comments

Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff writes about four potential trade destinations for Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark. Larkin believes that the Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators would be the frontrunners for the services of the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner should he be moved. Ullmark reportedly blocked a move at the trade deadline in March and has a 15-team no-trade list that could impede a potential trade this summer. Larkin’s list is largely based on speculation, but on the surface, it makes sense, given that the four teams on it were all undone by inconsistent goaltending this season.

In Colorado, Alexandar Georgiev didn’t have a very good regular season for the Avalanche and fell apart in the playoffs with an .894 save percentage. The story was similar in Los Angeles where Cam Talbot and David Rittich both had good regular seasons but couldn’t give the team enough to get out of the first round. The Kings pursued Ullmark prior to the deadline but were unable to complete a deal due to the netminders no trade list.

Ottawa and New Jersey aren’t surprising possibilities for Ullmark as they were two teams that came into the season with playoff expectations but were let down by some of the worst goaltending in the NHL. Ottawa signed netminder Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year $20MM contract last July in the hopes that he would steady their goaltending situation, however, the first year of the deal was a flop and Korpisalo finished second to last in the league in goals saved above expected with a -16.1 (according to Money Puck). Mads Sogaard and Anton Forsberg also appeared for the Senators this season and struggled as well.

New Jersey didn’t fare much better as Vitek Vanecek lost his game and finished near the bottom of the league in goals saved above expected with -11.2. Akira Schmid also saw his play fall off and found himself in the AHL for a big chunk of the season. The team brought in Jake Allen at the trade deadline from Montreal, but with one year left on his contract, the 33-year-old is more of a stopgap for the Devils and would be a terrific backup should they acquire Ullmark.

With his limited no-trade clause, Ullmark will have some say in where he ends up this summer, but won’t have full control. He is just a year out from becoming an unrestricted free agent once again and can choose his preferred destination in the summer of 2025.

Boston Bruins Linus Ullmark

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