Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney has roughly $20 million in salary cap space to work with this offseason to find players who will improve the club. One of the biggest trade chips on the market is Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark.
Ullmark is entering the final year of his contract, worth $5 million per season. That is a very affordable cap hit for a team looking to upgrade in net. Also, there is no shortage of suitors for his services, which reportedly includes the Ottawa Senators. However, the more intriguing team in the mix is the New Jersey Devils, who could be a great trade partner.
Devils Addressing Goaltending
According to Pierre LeBrun from The Athletic (from ‘NHL rumblings: Devils goalie search, Zegras, Marner, Necas, Gibson, Saros and more from the combine’ -The Athletic, 6/4/2024), the Devils are interested in Ullmark. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has made it clear he wants to address the goalie position. Their core group is young but established and is dangerous offensively. With Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier paving the way, there’s no shortage of firepower. Losing Dougie Hamilton was a big blow to the team’s defensive group, but the goaltending is subpar.
Since the 2020-21 season, the Devils have dressed 12 different goaltenders. The situation took a turn for the better when Vitek Vanecek became the first goalie since Devils legend Martin Brodeur to have a 30-win season. However, this season, their goaltending came back down to earth, and it was a tough year for Vanecek who finished with a 3.16 goals-against average, a .890 save percentage, and a subpar -13.54 goals saved above expected.
Simply, the Devils’ goaltending held them back – the team finished 30th in save percentage (.886). An upgrade is necessary. Vanecek was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks for Kaapo Kahkonen (March 8, 2024), who proved to be better, but this is a crucial summer for Fitzgerald, and the team must go big-game hunting.
Related: Bruins Can Maximize Linus Ullmark Return by Trading Him to the Senators
Fitzgerald has made it known he wants a goaltender and is willing to give up the tenth overall pick in this year’s draft to get one. In an interview with Mike Morreale from NHL.com, Fitzgerald noted:
“I’m in the goalie market talking to teams, but there’s a ‘but’ and the ‘but’ is how do we want to build our team?” Fitzgerald said. “We’d like to add up front, we’d like to add on the back end, so…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…