Why the Bruins signed Linus Ullmark last summer
Which contender that upgraded its goaltending last summer has an edge going into the playoffs?
That's the question that Senior NHL Columnist, Pierre Lebrun, tried to answer in his article published earlier today on The Athletic's website.
Lebrun specifically pointed out the team's that made significant changes in goal such as Carolina, Colorado, Toronto and of course, Boston.
The article mentions a few key pieces of information in regards to the Linus Ullmark signing last summer. Don Sweeney inked the netminder to a four-year, 20M$ deal, which raised a few eyebrows in Beantown back at the time.
Lebrun is quick to point out that months later, now that Tuukka Rask's comeback has failed and that Jeremy Swayman is going through a rough patch, the move looks a lot more like a solid one.
«We knew we were going to be a highly competitive team with a good, young goalie in Swayman but we needed to insulate him and Linus was the goalie our group had focused on,» added Sweeney. «He was at the right age, had experience and wanted to play on a highly competitive team.»
It's reassuring to find out that Ullmark had been in the team's sights for some time and that he wasn't just a desperation signing. Lebrun went on to add that he gives Sweeney a positive grade for the deal.
While the goaltending the B's have received from Ullmark is slightly less impressive than what off-season free agents Frederik Andersen has been doing in Carolina and Darcy Kuemper has done in Colorado, the move is still quite better than Toronto's attempt to hit it out of the park with Petr Mrazek!
