Ullmark: Signing with the Bruins 'Just Felt Right'

BostonBruins.com -When Linus Ullmark woke up in his native Sweden on Wednesday morning, he had no idea where he might end up by the day's end. And despite the opening of free agency being just hours away, the netminder had little time to think about the possibilities.
As the father of two young children, his focus was elsewhere.
"To be completely honest with you, I had no such thing in my mind," Ullmark said of any possible free agent destinations. "I had two young kids at home that I have to be taking care of. They had my full attention during the day. The later on the day got and the closer we got to the [noon opening of free agency], that's when my thoughts started to process everything that was actually going on.
"For me, it just felt right. It felt right for me and felt right for my family and also for my career."

For Ullmark, it was the Bruins that were the perfect fit. The six-year NHL veteran, who will turn 28 on Saturday, signed a four-year contract with a $5 million annual cap hit on Wednesday afternoon, joining Boston during a period of transition and uncertainty between the Black & Gold's pipes.
With the future of Tuukka Rask - the club's all-time winningest goalie - in question as the 34-year-old recovers from hip surgery performed earlier this week, promising young netmindes Jeremy Swayman and Daniel Vladar appeared poised to share a hefty chunk of the starts next season.
But Bruins general manager Don Sweeney shipped Vladar to Calgary for a 2022 third-round pick on Wednesday, saying that Swayman and Ullmark will be manning the Boston net, while leaving open the possibility that Rask could also be part of the equation when he is back at 100 percent in January or February.
"Spoke to him this morning, doing very well," Sweeney said of Rask. "Just have to go through the process and go from there. I think we've always left the door open for Tuukka to return, and I think it just allows Jeremy to continue to progress at a natural rate, but also give him the opportunity to be at the NHL level. As you can see, we gave Daniel an opportunity to go to Calgary and establish some stuff there. They were excited to have him.
"It was a little bit of a musical chairs shuffle, but for all the right reasons. We just felt we've had very strong goaltending. We want to continue to have that, and it was a unique opportunity to explore having Linus join our group and we're excited about that."
Despite the possibility of Rask's return and the emergence of Swayman last season, Ullmark embraced the chance to don the Spoked-B.
"Ever since we started the whole process, it felt right," said Ullmark. "We had our conversations all the way through the summer with Buffalo. It didn't work out in the end and when Boston came knocking on the door, they were calling on the phone and they told us about the situation that they were happy to sign me. Then we started that whole process. The longer the day went by, it just felt better and better. Very excited about what is to come."
Ultimately, Ullmark said, he hopes a Stanley Cup is in his future.
"I probably have the highest expectations," he explained. "I don't really think anyone from the outside can match that. I always try to be the best. Even though it might be as a person as well. But definitely…you would be a fool not to think of the Stanley Cup as your main goal. And things that we want to achieve.
"For me, myself, I'm really looking forward to get to know everyone first and foremost. And then you build upon that trust factor. It's tough to say what my expectations are because for me, it's just about being better than I was last season. And try to top that and keep on playing hockey and enjoy it."

Everything else you need to know about the new Bruins goalie:
Last team:Buffalo Sabres
Position:Goalie
Height:6 feet, 4 inches
Weight:215 pounds
Catches:Left
Birthday:July 31, 1993
Hometown:Lugnvik, Sweden
Twitter: @Icebeardude
Instagram: @lullmark
Miscellaneous:The soon-to-be 28-year-old has played all six of his NHL seasons with the Sabres, recording a 50-47-13 record with a 2.78 goals against average and .912 save percentage. Ullmark suited up for 20 games in 2020-21 with a 9-6-3 record to go along with a 2.63 GAA and .917 save percentage, strong numbers for a club that struggled mightily for much of the shortened season.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder was drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round (163rd overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. Ullmark then went on to play three seasons with MODO in the Swedish Hockey League before transitioning to North America for the 2015-16 season.
"I got drafted in 2012, so I've been in the organization for nine years. So obviously, it was a big part of my career. They were the ones that drafted me and groomed me into the player and person I am today. So, I have a lot of gratitude towards the organization for the way they've handled things and how they helped me, supported me, especially last season, with everything that went through my life," Ullmark, who lost his father in January, said of the Sabres.
"I got a lot of friendships, a lot of bonds that I'll have for life. I have a lot of gratitude towards everybody. Sabres fans, I love you guys from the bottom of my heart. You've always been great for me, and that's what I want to say about that. I look forward to creating some new bonds with new fans, new teammates, and personnel."
Ullmark already has some familiarity with the Bruins dressing room, as he played with both Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar last season in Buffalo before the duo was shipped to Boston at the trade deadline.
"I have some messages from a couple teammates that I used to play with. Lazar was one of them," said Ullmark. "I haven't had the opportunity to text him back yet, but I will get right on it after we're done here…[Lazar and Hall] really seemed like they fit right in, right from the start. That's also a very fun thing for me as well, thinking about when I have the opportunity to sign there as well, if those guys came in and were well taken care of, why shouldn't it be the same for me?
"And I've heard a lot of good things from other players that have played in Boston as well, talking about the franchise and the mindset and how people are taken care of and how everybody cares for one another. When we lost them from Buffalo, we wished them all the best, and look where we are now."
Ullmark said that he is looking forward to calling Boston home and experiencing the passion of the city's sports fans firsthand.
"I always like playing in Boston for some reason," he said. "It was always very tight games between us and them and I always liked the city as well, whenever we came here visiting. It's a very beautiful city. I love TD Garden, and there is a lot of passionate people surrounding the Boston sports.
"I do like it as well that there is high expectations for the team. It's not about making the playoffs, it's about winning the Stanley Cup. That's the first and foremost goal that everybody has from the fans to the players to the management."
Scouting Report:Sweeney highlighted Ullmark's 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame as one of his biggest assets, while noting that the backstop has strong numbers at 5-on-5, particularly when it comes to stopping "expected goals against."
"He's big, he stops a lot of pucks way above expected, especially in five-on-five situations," said Sweeney. "Both our goalie coaches in Bob [Essensa] and Mike [Dunham] broke down where there might be some deficiencies in Linus's game. There are fewer than a lot of goaltenders…overall, he's in the prime of his career, he's had a lot of experience.
"He's had some injuries we're going to help him address to be in the best shape going forward and play in a real structured environment which I think he was excited about. He knows what our team is like, playing against it, and he's excited to be on the inside of it all, playing for the us, and we're fortunate."