RUMORS: Ottawa wants Ullmark. Should Boston take them up on it?

The Sens want to improve in net and Boston needs a number of different things that Ottawa might have. Can this actually work out?

Well, we’re about a week away from the Draft, the NHL season still continues it’s deathmarch as the Edmonton Oilers refuse to go away, and the Boston Bruins don’t have a whole lot to look forward to on the Draft Floor, looking forward more towards Free Agency an-

…nnnnnnNEVERMIND! We have rumors to discuss!

The Sens have been linked to Linus Ullmark for a hot minute now, and are officially at the point where specific dollar amounts and years are being discussed, and they’re negotiating through the media in a tactic that has always worked out and will definitely be in their favor*.

* = Citation Needed

Why do the Sens want to do this?

I feel like the best way to describe the issue here is to just show you with a screenshot from the Sens’ NHL page.

In general, the Sens are in desperate search of what makes them “The Sens”. They have good skaters! They pair them with poor fits on the wings. They have good defenders! And the bad ones nearly negate all the good. They have rambunctious, phyisical prowess! They will abandon each other at the slightest opportunity.

One thing that was an unambiguous negative was goaltending, and when you’re trying to find a way to un-screw all the issues the above caused, honing in on a goaltending corps who couldn’t put up a .900 SV% all year seems like a pretty decent start.

What do they have to give up in return?

Honestly, it’s hard to think of something other than Tkachuk, Stutzle, and Norris they’re not willing to part with at the moment, but they will want to be aggressive here. Here is a list of just some of the most obvious players (RFAs, one year left on contract, that kind of thing) and assets they could consider moving on from.

7th Overall Pick

Alright, settle down: The Sens aren’t parting with the 7th overall pick for a goalie. Especially not one who’s 30.

Steve Staios wasn’t born yesterday, and the Sens aren’t nearly that desperate…at least, I don’t think they are. This market is pretty tight right now.

However…

25th Overall Pick

…He could be tempted to move on from their 2nd 1st rounder, which is much later on and could set the team up to pick in the first round for the first time in a hot minute. That puts them in the sights of such talents like Sacha Boisvert, Dean Letourneau, and Cole Beaudoin. All of whom perfectly fun players!

Jakob Chychrun – D

Ah yes…The Brand Name.

Chychrun was a pickup from the now-dead Coyotes that has been an otherwise decent offensive defenseman. There have been occasional looks at whether or not the Sens should consider him or Chabot expendable, to which I say…

Yeah, no. It’s time he moved to greener pastures.

Can’t do much worse than where he’s already been.

Chychrun as previously stated is a playmaker and power play QB of the type you find in players like Dmitry Orlov, Thomas Chabot, and a little bit of Mason Lohrei, if you’re assuming the guy Lohrei became in the playoffs is the real him. He can skate like the wind, has some strong hands, and for awhile was an okay player for both of the awful hockey teams he ended up with. His defense isn’t perfect, but he’s often been paired with players who can make up for that.

Of course, the big issue that needs to be overcome here is that Chychrun would be his place in the lineup; I understand if you feel Matt Grzelcyk’s time has come, but I think

He’s also made it clear he has a lot of interesting (read: incorrect and dangerous) opinions on dietary needs, so he’s gonna make a lot of friends in that Boston training staff! Maybe he’ll be the first Bruins player to be on IR for Kuru!

In case it isn’t obvious, I am going to be making fun of him the entire time he’s here for this exact thing if they trade for him.

Erik Brannstrom – D

I’m gonna be real; were it me, I’d probably try to get Brannstrom packaged in with whatever else you can get from Ottawa this year.

I like Brannstrom a lot; I’ve liked him since his time at the 2018 World Juniors where he ended up being not necessarily the most offensively gifted nor the most impressive defensively…but the most obnoxious on the backcheck, making himself very hard to be rid of. He’s a solid player who has had a run of absolutely horrific luck: From getting stretchered off the ice this year to getting kicked in the face with a skate. He’s also found himself in organizational limbo as the team plans to find a new balance in the wake of the regime change.

For some, it feels like the depth role he’s been given with Ottawa is about as far as he can go. His injury history, the Sens’ struggles with relevance in his time with them, and his lack of production gives the impression that maybe he’s given all he can in a defense corps with much flashier, counting stats creating player corps.

I tend to disagree. I believe there is still so much more for Brannstrom to do at the NHL level because, and this is important…he might be one of their best defensemen, at least analytically speaking.

Evolving-Hockey.com

Is he flashy? No. Is he super physical? Well, he can be annoying…but no. But if you wanted someone who does what Chychrun/Lohrei/Grzelcyk does and isn’t a tremendous liability in his own end?

I think Brannstrom is someone you could do something with.

Claude Giroux – C

Let’s say, hypothetically, we’re doing this again.

We kick this particular can of “find a goddamn Center” down to next year when the Bruins have a first to actually use and some upper round picks to maybe luck out on. Claude Giroux, who is one of the older players in the league, has a lot of hard miles…

…would also potentially be a great one year Bruin.

Giroux finished his last year with 64 points, and was every bit himself while playing for Black and Red. Sure, he wasn’t super complimentary of Ottawa’s lack of identity, but that’s because the veteran has been around, and he spent a lot of this season trying to drag this team back from the brink.

Evolving-Hockey.com

Granted, he is currently 36, and will be 37 by the end of his contract. Giroux seems to like being in Ottawa, and the Bruins probably don’t want to keep the thought process of getting older and older as a thing to sell to their fans, especially with the rest of the division either getting younger or getting a lot better at goalscoring.

But still…he’s a one year rental that has been nothing but exceptional. If you really wanted to give it one last final kick before making hardcore changes the year after…

He could be available.

Shane Pinto – C

He is a risk. I fully cop to that.

Pinto’s time in Ottawa started promising for a rookie, and then this last season was fraught with all kinds of issues; a contract dispute that kept him out for a bit, followed up by a gambling issue that cost him half a season, finished his half-year with 27 points on a less than ideal team, and has found himself in effectively zero position to bargain for a better contract with Ottawa beyond their own center depth being pretty grim.

He is young, he did a dumb thing, and now he is paying dearly for it to the point I’m sure even reading his name immediately had you run to the comments to yell “HARD NO” and frankly I don’t blame you.

But!

He is 23.

He is a Center.

He is, analytically speaking…promising. Not necessarily worldbreaking…but promising.

Evolving-Hockey.com

These are all things Boston could very much nurture.

If you were looking for a place to potentially jump-start the team’s center depth, this would be a phenomenal place to start. Pinto is young, desperate to prove himself after a nightmare season, and could be locked up in the short-term for cheap. If you wanna take a chance on this kid, there’s a good chance he could make it work, especially given how strong the Bruins’ wingers have been over the past few years.

And if you’re really that concerned about his character, I sincerely wish you worked for Don Sweeney over the last two years. It would’ve saved me a lot of headaches!

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Of course…all of this is rumor. There are likely plenty of teams checking in on Linus Ullmark after a second season of effectively erasing his time in Buffalo from the minds of the NHL’s best and brightest, and with the market tightening up, the Sens could look elsewhere.

But, if the Sens are serious, this could all be done before the NHL Draft…or hell, even the end of the weekend. Stick with us, and we’ll let you know how it goes.