Bruins’ Linus Ullmark ‘back in play’ as potential trade chip

For the second straight year, the Boston Bruins boast one of the premier goaltending tandems in the National Hockey League. Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have continued to be excellent between the pipes in Beantown, one of the reasons the team has allowed the fifth fewest goals against in the league.

But one of the two star netminders might not be long for Massachusetts, despite the B’s occupying the top spot in league standings again in 2023-24.

TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette wondered on the pregame broadcast before the Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night, whether the front office might consider moving one of their elite tendies to get help down the middle.

“They’re relying heavily on the top-two center role for Charlie Coyle, and he’s been pointless, I believe, in his last six or seven,” Bissonnette explained. “So to sustain that top six position, it’s very difficult if that’s not your natural position. I would say on a Stanley Cup team, Charlie Coyle is probably a third line center.

“So it definitely, in my opinion, is an area that they have to address. That’s why I keep reiterating that maybe it is time to come off one of their goaltenders to try and go get a piece like that out there. Now, maybe that isn’t available but the organization did also prepare for the absence of those two centermen.”

Would the Bruins really trade the reigning Vezina Trophy winner?

Trading Ullmark would certainly be a bold move — this is the defending Vezina Trophy winner, after all.

But Swayman is five years younger, and has been the better goaltender of the two this season. Still, Ullmark entered Thursday’s game against the Calgary Flames with a 16-6-4 record to go with a solid 2.72 goals against average and .914 save percentage. It’s been another great year for the Swede.

But if Boston hopes to erase last year’s postseason failure and make a deep run in 2024, they probably do need an upgrade at C. Pavel Zacha and Coyle have been good but not great, and after missing out on Elias Lindholm, the options are not aplenty.

“The market for Ullmark won’t be this great in the offseason, so I would think, if moving on from Ullmark then was still the plan, maybe that plan gets moved up to now,” an NHL executive told Boston Hockey Now’s Jimmy Murphy.

“The Bruins could turn around and use that money ($5M AAV this season and next) to get [Noah] Hanifin or another big piece they think they need to make a run and just ride Swayman into and throughout the playoffs.”

It seems very unlikely that the Bruins will part with an elite goaltender who is still just 30 years of age. But as the quest for a bonafide top-line center continues ahead of the deadline, GM Don Sweeney will at least be listening to offers.