Bruins’ Jim Montgomery, Linus Ullmark Know Offseason Questions Linger
Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark and head coach Jim Montgomery reflected on last season and acknowledged the questions the Black and Gold face this offseason Monday when they met with the media before the NHL Awards.
There are many questions as the Bruins are up against the salary cap while veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci hold uncertain futures.
“We’re gonna have to win with less,” Montgomery told reporters, per the Bruins website. “We all know the cap situation, so things are gonna change for us.
“Once Don Sweeney’s done doing his job, I’ll know what the roster is. All those questions, they’re all balls in the air. We’d like to have everybody back.
“I’d love to be able to run it back with that exact same team because I know the results in the playoffs, I believe, would be drastically different. But that’s not the NHL, that’s not gonna happen. I don’t like to talk about what-ifs. Let’s see what our roster looks like come September.”
Another area of uncertainty relates to goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who is a restricted free agent this offseason and due for a new contract. Ullmark, while understanding the nature of the business, is hopeful both goaltenders will be back in Black and Gold next season.
“Hopefully — I think I speak for both of us — that we both want to be together and we want to stay in Boston because that’s where we’ve thrived and seen the success we’ve had,” Ullmark told reporters, per the Bruins website. “We’ve just got to see. There’s a personal side to it and a business side to it. That’s just what being a professional hockey player is.”
Montgomery also touched on the goaltending depth, which he hopes to maintain after the tandem’s “superb” season.
“It goes back to we had a great year,” Montgomery told reporters. “The Bruins, we have to do things differently next year. We’ll have to see what that looks like.”
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