New Jersey Devils costs to acquire Linus Ullmark revealed

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Joshua Deeds
May 30, 2024 (6:49 PM)

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Linus Ullmark has become the odd-man out in the net for the Boston Bruins, as he shot-down multiple trades this season, including the Los Angeles Kings.

With the acquisition of Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, GM Tom Fitzgerald's next mandate is to address goaltending.

While landing Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen was helpful, the team still suffered a regression the majority of the 2023-2024 season.

Cost Acquisition for #NJDevils Trade Target Goaltender is High

Allen will likely remain the backup goalie, while Fitzgerald hunts for a starter.

Even Keefe has stressed the need for an improvement in net:

«[Fitzgerald] communicated to me that improving in goal, the depth in goal is going to be very important,» Keefe said on an episode of The Jeff Marek Show. «The experience of a veteran like Jake Allen here is really good. You can see how proactive Tom was towards the trade deadline to make changes in goal.»

Which means, Fitzgerald will set his sights far and wide to find the new #1 goalie in New Jersey.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, New Jersey was one of many teams who inquired about the costs of acquiring Ullmark.

It appeared Don Sweeney had finalized a trade with one of these teams, but Ullmark would nix the trade, whom many thought to be with the Los Angeles Kings. With the Bruins committed to Jeremy Swayman as the new #1 in net, the team will continue to field offers on the 2022-2023 Vezina Trophy Winner.

«We're gonna find a landing spot with Swayman, and if we can make the math work, we're going to have the best tandem,» Sweeney explained to Boston media. «If we can't, we're going to explore [options], and for Linus, he may come to us and change his mind, that may occur as well. Right now we're very happy to have signed Linus, and in a perfect world, we would keep the tandem because I think it's damn good. But we're going to explore opportunities. My phone's going to ring, I'm going to make calls. That's just what the job requires.»

The cost to acquire Linus Ullmark from the clutches of Don Sweeney will ultimately be a 1st round pick, or a play of similar caliber.

So for the Devils, it sounds like could be a 10th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2024 NHL Draft, or the Devil's 7th overall draft pick from 2020, in Alexander Holtz.

Either way, the cost for Ullmark is premium and someone will pay.