The Bruins were one of the most active teams in free agency this offseason, signing forwards Nick Foligno, Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek, defenseman Derek Forbort, and goalie Linus Ullmark.
It was the last of those five, Ullmark, that came as arguably the biggest surprise. The Bruins signing a goalie wasn’t surprising in and of itself given the uncertainty around Tuukka Rask and the departure of Jaroslav Halak, but a four-year, $20 million contract was a much bigger commitment than many were expecting.
That doesn’t mean it was the wrong move or a bad deal by any means, though. In fact, former Bruins goalie and current NESN analyst and WEEI contributor Andrew Raycroft says Ullmark was “by far” his favorite of the five Bruins signings. He explained why on the latest episode of The Skate Podcast.
“I like all the moves, to be honest,” Raycroft began. “I thought they took care of the depth. I think the third and fourth lines now have bigger bodies, more experienced players that can move into different positions. We know there’s going to be a bunch of injuries like always. It’s 82 games, it’s still condensed with the Olympics. You’re going to have to manage rest with guys like Patrice Bergeron. You’re going to need all that depth, so I like all those moves.
“My favorite, though, by far is Linus Ullmark. I think they got the best free-agent goalie on the market. They’re losing Tuukka Rask. We know the story -- the reality is he’s probably been under-appreciated the last couple years. But to go out and get the best free-agent goalie, in my opinion, and to have him locked in at a pretty reasonable number for the next four years, with a young guy like [Jeremy] Swayman coming up and Ullmark still coming into his prime, that’s my favorite deal. Goaltending is always going to be the most important position, and they proved that they’re still going for it by picking up Ullmark and not going with a Swayman-[Dan] Vladar combo right out of the gate.”
There is of course still the possibility that Tuukka Rask, who underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip this offseason, returns to the Bruins sometime midseason. As Raycroft points out, though, signing Ullmark gives the Bruins more certainty at the position and potentially saves from a situation where they’re banking on Rask to be some sort of savior.
“Right now, I don’t see it being needed,” Raycroft said of a possible Rask return. “Listen, you look around the NHL, there’s still always a need for a third goalie. There’s going to be times where one of them is probably going to have a groin issue or a hip issue or a knock, just something that keeps them out for seven to 10 days. We’ve seen it with Tuukka over the last couple years with Jaro Halak coming in and spelling him.
“The good news is that we’ve seen them both [Ullmark and Swayman] carry the mail for more than 10 days or two weeks. So if there is a knock for one of them, the other one can come in and spell him. Obviously any team that loses two goalies, you’re always going to be in trouble. There’s nothing you can do about that.
“I don’t see it being performance-wise for either one of them. I think they’re going to spell each other well. There’s probably going to be times one of them struggles for three, four, five games, but because the other one is there, they can take over and help out and the other guy can get his work done and get better and get through that. So right now, I don’t see how you can say, ‘Well, Tuukka has to come back for this team to do well.’ That’s why they signed Ullmark, to have him here and to not have that absolute need whenever the time comes.”
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