As is the case every summer in the NHL, we will soon witness a veritable game of musical chairs among the league’s goalies.
But this year more than ever, very big names are available on the transaction market. We are talking here, among other things, about Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames, John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and even possibly Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators.
Moreover, everything indicates that it is only a matter of time before the Bruins trade Ullmark to make room on their payroll while Jeremy Swayman earned the team’s number one goalie position this past season.
According to what the journalist reports Bruce Garrioch of Ottawa Citizenthe Bruins GM, Don Sweeneywould be very greedy for the former Vezina Trophy recipient and would have demanded defenseman Jakob Chychrun in addition to a 1st round pick as well as another additional pick from the Ottawa Senators when they tried to acquire him , they who would be aggressive on the goalkeeper market.
- Aged 30, Linus Ullmark is a 6th round pick (163rd overall) in 2012. This season, he compiled a record of 22-10-7 with a goals against average of 2.55 and a save percentage of .915 in 40 games. He will serve out the final year of his contract earning him an average of $5 million per season before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.
It will be very interesting to see where he ends up, as he has a partial no-trade clause, allowing him to put the names of 15 cities where he does not wish to be traded.
At the last trade deadline, we will remember that the Los Angeles Kings had completed a transaction with the Bruins but Ullmark had refused it by invoking his clause. Let’s see if the situation changes in the coming weeks.
