The Bruins committing four years and $20 million to free-agent goalie Linus Ullmark caught pretty much everyone off guard. It certainly wasn’t the cheap, veteran short-term plug-in many were expecting.
While Ullmark helps solidify a position that was in flux given Tuukka Rask’s hip surgery and uncertain future, one of the initial concerns from some fans was what it means for Jeremy Swayman.
That’s understandable. Swayman was outstanding in his first taste of NHL action last season. The 22-year-old certainly looks like the Bruins’ goalie of the future, and many fans were ready to turn the starting job over to him now.
But then Don Sweeney and Co. go and commit real years and money to Ullmark? What the heck? Do the Bruins not really believe in Swayman? Is he now “stuck behind” Ullmark for four years?
To which I say: Don’t worry about it. Swayman is going to play this season. If he plays well, he’s going to play a lot. If he outperforms Ullmark, he’s probably going to play more than him. And if he’s playing better than Ullmark come playoffs, should the Bruins get there, he’s going to start playoff games.
Ullmark’s $5 million salary is a real commitment, but it’s not a Carey Price/Sergei Bobrovsky/Andrei Vasilevskiy franchise cornerstone-type commitment. It’s not the eight-year, $56 million commitment the Bruins made to Rask back in 2013 either.
Nor is Ullmark an everyday workhorse-type goalie. Very few goalies are these days. Last year, only five goalies in the whole NHL played more than 70% of their team’s games. Most teams now have 50/50 or 60/40 platoons, the latter being right around where the Bruins had been with Rask in recent years.
Ullmark, 27, has never played more than 37 games in an NHL season. His max in any season at any level was 56 in 2016-17 (55 in the AHL, 1 in the NHL). Swayman may someday be a workhorse No. 1, but there’s no way the Bruins could possibly expect him to be there yet. He’s never played more than 35 games in a season at any level.
There is going to be plenty of playing time to go around in an Ullmark-Swayman platoon, and there’s reason to believe it could be a very good platoon. Both had really impressive numbers in admittedly fairly small sample sizes last year.
The best way for the Bruins to continue to get those kinds of performances from them will be to not overwork them. Keep Ullmark, who has battled injuries in the past, healthy. Make sure Swayman doesn’t get worn down in his first full professional season.
Money-wise, goaltending will remain a cost-controlled position for the Bruins for the next few years. Swayman is only making $925,000 the next two years. Then he’s a restricted free agent, still under team control.
If, over the next couple years, things progress to a point where Swayman is the clear No. 1, there’s maybe another young goalie ready to back him up, and Ullmark is expendable, the Bruins can always trade Ullmark.
Ullmark doesn’t have a no-trade clause, and there will always be a market for good goalies. The Coyotes just got a first-round pick and a third-round pick from the Avalanche for Darcy Kuemper, who has some similarities to Ullmark as a goalie with good numbers who has battled injuries. Kuemper had one year left on his contract with a $4.5 million cap hit -- again, similar to where Ullmark could be in a few years.
All that’s a ways off, though. For now, the Bruins have set themselves up with a strong goalie tandem, one they could potentially add to even more with a possible midseason Tuukka Rask return if he’s needed.
Swayman’s development is on a good track, and pairing him with another good goalie in Ullmark helps, not hurts, that.
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