NHL Trade Rumors: Insider Bruce Garrioch claims Senators pushing hard to land Bruins' $20,000,000 goalie

By ARJUN B

Modified Jun 20, 2024 15:05 GMT

NHL insider Bruce Garrioch said the Ottawa Senators are pushing hard to land Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark in a trade. Ullmark signed a 4-year, $20 million contract with Boston in the summer of 2021 and carries a $5 million cap hit.

"While league sources told Postmedia earlier in the day the Senators had already stepped up their efforts to acquire goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, Ottawa may now be the last serious team in the mix," Garrioch reported on Wednesday to ottawacitizen.com.

In their efforts to improve their goaltending this offseason, the Ottawa Senators saw one potential trade target come off the market when Calgary traded top goalie Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey. With Markstrom no longer an option, Garrioch reports that Senators GM Steve Staios has been aggressively pursuing Ullmark.

"League sources say the Senators have circled back to the Bruins to see if there’s a fit to acquire Ullmark to steady the club’s struggling net, and those talks have intensified," Garrioch said.

"The Los Angeles Kings were also trying to acquire Ullmark, but they dealt forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals later Wednesday for goaltender Darcy Kuemper," Garrioch added.

Ullmark would be an upgrade for the Senators. For Boston, the 30-year-old went 26-10-2 with a 2.58 GAA, .915 SV% and two shutouts.

Other options for the Senators besides Bruins’ Linus Ullmark

Although the Ottawa Senators have shown interest in Linus Ullmark, he is not the only possibility.

"The club has also kicked tires on Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros with the NHL draft set for June 28-29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas," Bruce Garrioch said.

At the season ticket holder event, Senators VP Dave Poulin acknowledged the team knows goaltending is an area that needs improvement.

"A lot of different factors go into analyzing (the club’s goaltending)," Poulin said. "We’ve spent a lot of time on it and we’re still working hard on it. Our goaltending will be better next season."

This is the second time the Senators have tried to trade for Ullmark from the Bruins. However, they were unable to finalize a deal before the trade deadline in March, despite several discussions between GMs Steve Staios and Don Sweeney.