Linus Ullmark Was Prepared For Bruins Trade To Senators

The Linus Ullmark trade was not a shock to many fans after the rumors had been circulating on social media for a long time. It also was not a shock to the goaltender.

Ullmark was mentioned in trade rumors during the 2023-24 season so when the Bruins offseason came, he had a feeling his time in the Black and Gold was ending.

“Well, I’m older and wiser now, so that made (the trade) easier,” Ullmark told the “What Chaos!” podcast. “Being up on the trade block during the season helped me prepare mentally for ‘OK, this is the real deal, this might happen.'”

Knowing his time in Boston was coming to a close, the 30-year-old mentally prepared for moving locations. The mental realization that he would be traded also helped him not be blindsided when the trade went down.

“So once the season was done and I had the time to sit down and kind of digest it all, then it felt like, ‘OK, there’s a big chance that I’m not a Boston Bruin in the beginning of training camp,'” Ullmark said. “Having that in the back of my mind and realizing, ‘OK, this is the God honest truth,’ then you can start preparing yourself a bit mentally about it and not being woken up in the middle of the night, don’t know exactly what’s happening so that just was my mental approach to it all.”

The goaltender was a large part of the Bruins’ recent success, winning the Vezina Trophy in 2023. In 2023-24, he and Jeremy Swayman split the time in net evenly. During that time, Ullmark played 40 games and had a record of 22-10-7.

While Ullmark will be sent to Ottawa, the Bruins will shift their focus to what they received in the trade. Boston will have a first-round draft pick in Friday’s NHL Draft, along with goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and forward Mark Kastelic.