BRIGHTON — Linus Ullmark doesn’t want to leave.
Even after being demoted to backup goalie in the playoffs, he’d rather stay with the Bruins next year.
Ullmark is heading into the final season of a contract that pays him $5 million per season. Jeremy Swayman is younger and coming off a great postseason, which has him positioned to be Boston’s No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future. So trading Ullmark, the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner, would be a logical move. The Bruins could acquire another asset for him as well as free up cap space to augment the team in other areas.
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But Ullmark has a clause in his contract that allows him to block trades to 15 different teams. He used that clause to block a move at the trade deadline. Ullmark said that his own professional situation is a factor, but not the only important one to him as he considers his future. Overall he’d like to play out his final year in Boston.
“I don’t have the luxury to choose that. If I could, I’m probably going to say the same thing as everybody else — I want to stay and I’m going to stay,” he said. “But in professional sports, you got to deal with the hand you’ve been dealt. I have one more year. I wouldn’t want anything else than to come back here. Get a little bit of a revenge tour. I’m very excited and motivated for what’s to come.”
He said what’s best for his family is a priority and being in Boston and playing for the Bruins has been good for them.
“I would say it’s more on the personal side. We felt that ever since we came to Boston, we’ve been embraced by not only the city, but the team and the people that work throughout the organization like everybody has been so nice and caring,” he said. “We felt that ever since our day one and that makes you feel at home, makes you want to stay there. When you have that good thing behind you, you don’t want to move just because you have to move.”
“It doesn’t really matter how it goes on the ice. If you’re feeling that your life is taken care of and that your family is well, and they’re thriving,” he continued. “You don’t want to uproot them. That goes to anyone that has kids and families. It doesn’t matter what kind of a job you have. … I’m very comfortable. I like it here. I don’t really want to move at that point.”
Ullmark said several things go into making his no-trade list.
“My list is there. We’ve worked very hard for it,” he said. “There’s a reason why certain teams are on there and they might be personal things. That’s something for me, my family and my agent to deal with and take care of. I don’t have any obligations to share the reasons that I have certain teams on that list.”
He was asked if the perception that he didn’t want to leave the East Coast, which is closer to his native Sweden, was accurate and a factor in making his list.
“It all depends. … There might be other things throughout your career. For example, you have one team that would be on the West Coast that is really, really bad and you have them on your no-trade list. But then all of a sudden, maybe three years later, they’re not, they might be a contender. You might want to waive (the no-trade clause) at that point, but you can’t really think about that in advance, how are these teams going to be in three or four years?”
