I'd like to see Ullmark with the Kings, but it's not going to happen. He reportedly declined a trade to the Kings / west coast before the trade deadline.
I think Swayman is in a very good position to ask for much more than that. Expect him to receive something in the Hellebuyck region, if not a bit more than that with the Cap rising by around $4m

well, for starters, i've got good news and i've got bad news:
The good news: The cap will be about $4M higher than that
The bad news: Frost, Walker, and Nedeljkovic ain't it....and i'd really like bertuzzi a lot more at $5M, but I think you could get him at a lower amount if you offer him term. I think 7x$4.25 would interest him more than 4x6.
Gotta sign Heinen.
Expect Swayman to cost more

Hellebucyk is actually the exact contract I would be using in negotiations...if I were the bruins.
1. Hellebucyk signed as a UFA, you're an RFA
2. he had a huge sample size of being a number 1, you don't
3. we're in relatively tax friendly boston, he's in winnipeg
4. we're in boston, he's in winnipeg.

actually, looking at that, I don't hate 6.5 as much as i did when I first opened this. Maybe $7M?

Really excited to see, what the AAV will be in the end of the day. You have good points, but I think he will cost the bruins $8M per season. Probably the Bruins also look to sign him for a maximum of 8 years instead of "just" 6

The Flyers should accept this deal.

To piggyback on this, Kings brass were reportedly upset with the Bruins for leaking details of the trade. I think the relationship is soured between the two teams.

at a certain point, we've gotta start just expecting boston to get their guys lower than expected. sweeney has a ridiculous history of getting his own players back at head scratchingly low contracts.
1. Marchand at a bit of $6 is stealing.
2. Pastrnak at 6.66 was stealing, and frankly, his new deal looks okay.
3. mcavoy at 3x4.9 off his ELC was just absurd, and I think his $9.5 is below market.
4. Carlo's last two deals have been stealing.
5. Lindholm came in way lower than I expected

we could go on for a while.

If you add Merkulov it’s an absolute done deal for the flyers

You never know whom the source of a leak is. It was likely Ullmark’s agent and that’s a risk Blake took.

Ullmark didn’t want to be traded during the season. He was pretty open about talks with Bergeron and McAvoy. He enjoys stability and he might be one of the most vulnerable athletes in the league in his openness about talking about real life topics.

Sweeney has a history of being super tight lipped about deals though I do think Friedman has some connections into his front office. Almost every deal comes as a surprise.

Seriously doubt that this is a thing. If it is, then Blake needs to grow the F up. When you try to trade for a player that has you on a no trade list, it may come out. You can ask the team to be discreet, but once a player is informed … it is out the window

If he was clear with Sweeney, why did they propose the trade to him? If his agent wants to make discussions public is that the type of agent the Kings want to negotiate a contract with?

Totally fair that Ullmark wants to publicize trade offers he denied, but you can’t fault a team for looking elsewhere after its public that he didn’t want to go to the proposing team just a few months ago.

LA needed the upgrade at goal for the playoffs, the Kings can probably get away with average goaltending again until the deadline and try for Saros again (hopefully with retention).

For LA I think the Ullmark trade window is closing. LA is focused on Byfield and gunning for the best free agent goaltenders they can find. Trading for a goalie becomes the backup plan this off-season.

I think you are making this into much more than it actually is. Ullmark sharing with people he wanted to stay in Boston during the season is probably something that a majority of players on winning teams will say. I don’t want to be separated from my family during the season is a logical feeling and my guess is a lot of players would use a no trade clause to prevent it from happening if they are happy with their current situation.

Reality is people speculated on the teams. Not sure if it was LA to be blunt. People jumped to that because of the “geographic” comment and the rumors that they made PLD available that didn’t seemed tied to any specific team.

Sweeney did tell the media that if a deal happened it would be a distribution of cap and a hockey deal. I think a few rumor guys jumped because it seemed aligned with other talks that both teams were having.

My guess is Sweeney and whatever team it was discussed parameters and then it was presented to Ullmark before they continued.

Reality is team dynamics for both teams are always a consideration for any trade discussion and the no trade items make it a little different. Going to any player and speculating you might be moved is hard for all GM’s unless you don’t like the player or his fit

Friedman, who seems to be the most connected to Boston, didn’t really say much about the LA rumors.

Free agent goalies are a rough group this year:

2024 Goalies

Look at what LA did with $1.85M during the regular season with Talbot and Rittich.

One of Brossoit, Stolarz, Nedeljkovic, Murray, Samsanov, Driedger would take a budget contract for a chance to be a #1 in the playoffs and earn a big contract like Korpisalo did with LA last year.

LA just needs decent goaltending and can spend for Saros if they look legit by the deadline, which is wise considering they shouldn't be buying like crazy for the playoffs until they see PLD improve.

My guess is that LA isn’t going to have much of a choice. They have some holes on their roster and going with a cheap goaltender may be the solution.

Do I believe they offered PLD and a pick for Ullmark? Yeah. There probably was some other superficial parts involved for cap purposes

Do I believe that Blake has done a 180 on his goalie position stance? No.

Trading for goalies at the deadline is tough business especially when you are likely to be cap strapped

I mean even if everything you say is correct, and Ullmark can't wait to go to LA. LA is still going to be focused on getting the best UFA goalie and reupping Byfield. By that time, I think Ullmark will either be moved or it will be clear he is staying with the Bruins this season.

In any scenario to me, LA's best move is to wait, especially considering they need to see how big of a turd PLD will be this season, now that they have committed to him.

I don’t think they’ve committed to him. I think they responded to a stupid article that was never going to come true.

They may have no choice but to keep him, but that’s different than a commitment

I think they are going to pick there next coach based on him, Danault and Kopitar will thrive in any system. To build your coaching and staffing around a player is a real commitment.

Is the PLD trade terrible, absolutely, should Blake be the GM, probably not. But this is going to be him fixing this issue or being shot out of a canon in the process.

If they choose their next coach based on PLD, your owners should be fired

Bud, look at the past season, if that’s just the last straw. Blake is about saving his job, it PLD is a 60 point player and they still have a first round exit I think he keeps his job. Our owners are stupid loyal.

I think Blake has put together a solid team with some shortcomings just like most teams. He made one disaster move that can potentially be recovered

He also signed Cal Petersen had to fix that mistake at a loss. Moved Vilardi, Walker, and Durzi for less than they are worth. Fired one of the highest paid coaches in the league. That is just this season. His remaining career with the Kings is banked on the idea that PLD will not be as bad of a contract next season as it was this year, and he'll probably get that because the bar for PLD is so low. His press conference echos this, and now all we can do is watch what coach he gets and what line we see PLD on.

I view cap motivated deals and bad deals differently..

All the crap aside, I think LA has a very good team

I hope so too, but goodness I think of what could have been.

This team could have kept Vilardi and got Lindholm for less as a UFA this season. They'll manage but this past season has been frustrating.