Less than an hour before arguably the biggest game of the last decade, the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins decided to crash the party.
No, Ullmark isn’t a perfect goaltender by any means — but who is? If he wants to cement himself as a bona fide elite goalie in this league, Ullmark will need to prove he can manage a starter’s workload. Owing to his tandem role alongsidein Boston, Ullmark has yet to play in 50 or more games in a single season. He’s also appeared in just 10 postseason games in his entire NHL career and watched the vast majority of Boston’s 2024 playoff run from the bench.
While, yes, the Bruins did receive a first-round pick in this trade — their own 2024 pick, coincidentally — they had to take on the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract to get it. The Senators were kind enough to retain a quarter of Korpisalo’s cap hit, but that doesn’t change the fact that Boston now has the goaltender who saved the fewest goals above expected in 2023-24 on their payroll at a relatively hefty $3 million cap charge until 2028.