The Ottawa Senators hope to achieve a net gain throughout the offseason.
It won’t be simple for the club to improve its struggling goaltender, but Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, is considering his alternatives.
After failing to acquire goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins at the National Hockey League trade deadline in March, Staios and the club’s hockey operations department are likely to make another pitch before the draft, which is scheduled for June 28-29 in Las Vegas.
Several teams, including the Senators, Los Angeles Kings, and New Jersey Devils, attempted to sign the 30-year-old Ullmark prior to the deadline. According to reports, Ullmark declined to amend his 15-team no-trade list, therefore scuttling a potential deal with the Devils.
Ullmark, who was making $5 million entering the last year of his contract, split time with Jeremy Swayman during the season but made only one playoff start.
The Bruins aim to sign restricted free agent Swayman to a long-term agreement, so Ullmark will be available.
Speaking to the media at the Bruins’ wrap-up news conference Wednesday at the TD Garden, after Boston was eliminated in Round 2 by the Florida Panthers, GM Don Sweeney made it clear that he will contact Ullmark in the off-season.
“We’re going to find a landing spot with Jeremy Swayman (on a contract), and if the maths works out, we’ll have the best tandem. If we can’t, we’re going to investigate. Sweeney added, “And Linus may come to us and change his mind.”
“Right now, we were overjoyed to sign Linus, and in an ideal world, we would keep the tandem because I think it’s so good. But we’re going to look into opportunities.
My phone is going to ring, and I’ll make calls. That’s exactly what the job requires. The signs are that Staios will take up the phone again to see whether there is a fit to do a deal with Ullmark. Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg were among the league’s worst goaltenders last season. That’s significant given Korpisalo was meant to help stabilise the club’s net.
Korpisalo, who signed a five-year, $20-million US contract last July, completed the season ranked No. 50 in the league with an.890 save percentage, while Forsberg was placed No. 48. To obtain Ullmark, the Senators’ offer will have to significantly improve, and you can bet the Devils will come back because, after signing head coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday, the club needs a goaltender.
They’d also have to persuade him to come here. “What’s my future here? “I have one more year,” Ullmark declared on his last day. “I’d give anything to come back here and have a little revenge tour. I’m incredibly thrilled and inspired about what’s to come.
There are reports that the Senators offered Korpisalo to the Bruins as part of a deal for Ullmark at the deadline, but Sweeney respectfully declined. Boston cannot afford Korpisalo’s $16 million salary and the remaining four years on his contract.
A league executive stated Thursday that the Senators would most likely have to trade defenceman Jakob Chychrun, a first-round choice, and another selection to acquire Ullmark. Even then, he has the hammer because he has a modified no-trade provision.
Sweeney was attempting to keep his Ullmark strategy under wraps. “No conversation I’m going to have with a player in terms of what we’re trying to do, until we have to have a conversation, is really going to go public,” Sweeney stated. “I hope you all respect that because, as a player and former player, that is what I would like to see happen. “At times, sadly, things begin to slip out. That’s your job; you people do an excellent job of figuring things out and putting them together.” The Bruins may be willing to take Forsberg, who has one year remaining on his $2.75 million contract, as a short-term backup option.
Sweeney urged people against believing everything they hear. “Some guys are completely wrong, but it doesn’t stop you from throwing it out there, and that’s fine. It’s good for business in general. Sweeney acknowledged that it is beneficial to hockey in terms of attracting attention and eyes.
What the Senators do with their goaltender throughout the offseason will be scrutinised.
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