Several Bruins are gathering in Nashville for Monday night time’s NHL Awards present and a few will little question stroll away with the {hardware} for the unbelievable common season the crew had.
But just under the floor was not solely the lingering ache of how that historic season ended far too early, but in addition that the wage crunch the membership is going through will not directly break up that crew.
We might know the way drastically it’s damaged up this week when the draft is held at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday and Thursday and free company opens on Saturday. The B’s have just below $5 million in cap house with solely seven forwards and one goalie signed. Players should be moved to rebuild a crew that can inevitably have much less depth than the 2022-23 B’s did.
One of these gamers could possibly be one of many honorees in Nashville. Goalie Linus Ullmark is the favourite for the Vezina Trophy because the league’s high goalie, however the B’s goaltending tandem with Jeremy Swayman – a restricted free agent – is likely to be a luxurious they’ll now not afford.
That concept has not slipped previous Ullmark.
“It crossed my mind. I’m not going to lie,” mentioned Ullmark to reporters in Nashville on Sunday. “That’s part of the sport we live in. And when you have two goalies that are so close stat-wise, there’s going to be some changes, probably. And I can speak for both of us that we both want to be together and stay in Boston because that’s where we’ve thrived and you saw the success that we’ve had. And we’ve just got to see. There’s a personal side to it and there’s a business side to it.”
Ullmark has a 16-team no-trade clause, which could make it tougher to maneuver him than Swayman. But whereas he’s considered the potential of being moved, that’s about so far as his thought course of has gone.
“There’s a lot of what-ifs,” he mentioned. “I try not to think about it too much. For me, at least, that’s not important, at this point. Whenever that day comes, if it ever comes, that’s something I’ve got to deal with at that point.”
Coach Jim Montgomery is up for the Jack Adams Award because the league’s finest coach. He admitted it might be “devastating” to lose a participant like Ullmark. And he won’t be the one beneficial participant to go away the fold.
“Yeah, it would be, right? Who wants to lose a Vezina Trophy winner? And if (Patrice) Bergeron decides to retire, we lose a Selke winner, too,” mentioned Montgomery with a chuckle. “The Bruins have to do things differently next year. We’ll have to see what that looks like.”
Adding to the agita is the truth that the 65-win B’s know they’d the prospect of a lifetime to win a Stanley Cup and they didn’t get out of the primary spherical.
“When I think of our season and I think of the history of the league, it’s pretty special what we accomplished. And that’s never going to go away. Any time the next team comes along, we’re going to be one of the teams in that breath,” mentioned Montgomery. “I don’t know if it takes away the pain, because that lingers with us. We know we fell short. That pain lives with you. Your failings, as long as you learn from them, they make you stronger and they make you better. We want to know this is how we’re going to move forward. And we have a great corps of players. All together with (GM) Don Sweeney and what we do in the Bruins culture, we’re going to move forward and we’re going to get better from this. We’re going to have to win with less. We all know the cap situation. So things are going to change for us. But Florida, they had a much better regular season (in 2021-22) and they were in the finals (this season).”
If Ullmark is certainly one of many gamers to be moved, the crew that will get him will probably be getting an much more pushed participant after his efficiency within the playoffs didn’t match the common season.
“I’ve got to say I’m very motivated, very inspired as well to get next season started. That’s all I can say,” mentioned Ullmark. “I try not to dwell on the past. What’s happened happened. But it’s given me a lot of time to think about what I can improve in my game as well. There were a lot of things that happened obviously that I can learn from. I’m a lot more wiser, a lot more used to it. So when next season comes and I’m put in the same position, I’m going to be a lot more confident when it comes to certain things.”
When wanting again at the place he thought his crew didn’t measure up, Montgomery mentioned he didn’t suppose his crew didn’t play as quick because it had within the common season. It additionally fell quick in entrance of Ullmark and Swayman.
“The defending part kind of it got away from us, especially in big moments,” mentioned Montgomery. “I thought one part of our evaluation is that the net front battles, and I think we lost that. And I give (Matthew) Tkachuk and (Sam) Bennett incredible kudos there. They were really good at getting in front of our goalie there. There were too many screens and not enough box-outs for our liking. Sometimes you have to tip your hat to great players and unfortunately, that’s an area I felt we didn’t win. If we win that area, I think we would have moved on.”
Bergeron, whose spouse Stephanie is anticipating the couple’s fourth little one any day, is not going to be attending the awards ceremony.
David Pastrnak, a finalist for the Hart Trophy, is arriving in Nashville on Monday.
Source: www.bostonherald.com